Authored by Lakshya Mathur and Sriram P 

McAfee Intelligence observed a huge spike in extortion email frauds over the past month. The intent of these fraudulent activities is to intimidate individuals into paying a specified amount of money as a ransom. 

Figure 1 shows the number of blackmail emails received over a month recently. 

Figure 1 – Stats for 20 February 2023 – 23rd March 2023

In this blog, we’ll delve into frauds that are becoming increasingly common in the digital age. We’ll first define what these frauds are and provide examples to help readers better understand the nature of these frauds. Additionally, we’ll explore how these frauds are on the rise, highlighting the reasons behind this trend and the impact it has on individuals. 

Finally, we’ll provide practical advice to help consumers protect themselves from these types of attacks. This will include a discussion of some of the most effective measures individuals can take to safeguard their personal and financial information from fraudsters. 

What are Extortion Frauds? 

Extortion emails are a type of scam where cybercriminals send threatening messages to individuals or organizations—demanding payment in exchange for not releasing sensitive or embarrassing information. These emails typically claim that the sender has compromising information, such as private photos or personal data, and threaten to share it with the recipient’s friends, family, or the public unless a payment is made. The payment is usually asked in the form of cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin in the recent spam, which is difficult to trace and can be transferred quickly and anonymously. The goal of these emails is to scare the recipient into paying the demanded amount, even though there might not be any compromising information to release. 

Examples of Extortion fraud 

Scammers use different scareware sentiments like bad internet browsing habits, hacking for Wi-Fi, and hacking of networks because of hardware vulnerabilities. We’ll now examine various illustrations of extortion emails and analyze scammers’ strategies to intimidate victims into providing payment. By presenting various real-life examples, we can demonstrate how scammers use scareware tactics to manipulate and intimidate their victims into complying with their demands. By instilling fear, the scammers hope to provoke a sense of urgency in the victim, increasing the likelihood that they will pay the demanded ransom. 

Figure 2 – Extortion fraud Example 1 

Figure 2 is an illustration of a typical extortion email that scammers use to exploit their victims. In this instance, the scammer is claiming to have gained unauthorized access to the victim’s account through a security vulnerability in a Cisco router. The scammer is then threatening to expose embarrassing information about the victim unless a payment of $1,340 is made. 

The payment is demanded through a Bitcoin wallet address that the scammer has provided. In this example, the scammer has obfuscated the Bitcoin wallet address by adding spaces between the characters, which is a tactic used to make it harder to track the payment. Now, let us examine another instance of extortion emails. 

Figure 3 – Extortion fraud example 2 

Figure 3 is another example of an extortion email that scammers use to trick and manipulate their victims. In this case, the attacker is claiming to have gained unauthorized access to the victim’s accounts and has deployed trojans and viruses on the victim’s system. The scammer is also blackmailing the victim by alleging that they have explicit adult content about the victim and the victim’s web browsing history. The purpose of this is to instill fear and provoke a sense of urgency in the victim. 

Like the previous example, the scammer has provided a Bitcoin wallet address for the victim to make a ransom payment of $950. Additionally, the attacker has explained that the virus they’ve deployed is undetectable by antivirus software because they’ve used drivers that update the virus every few hours. 

Use of Cryptocurrency 

Cryptocurrency tools are the most common way these scammers ask for a ransom. They use this tactic because it is difficult to trace and can be sent quickly and anonymously to other platforms. We noticed that scammers were demanding ransom payments through Bitcoin wallets. So, we tried to gather statistics on the number of unique Bitcoin wallets we came across in the past month. 

Figure 4 – Unique Bitcoin Stats for 20th February 2023 – 23rd March 2023 

We checked these Bitcoin addresses to see what their transactions activities are and their reputation on the blockchain and Bitcoin abuse database. Below are some snapshots of the transaction of these addresses. 

Figure 5 – Bitcoin received, and abuse report count for Bitcoin address 

As illustrated in Figure 5, it is clear that the Bitcoin addresses mentioned in these extortion emails have numerous abuse reports against them. Additionally, some ransom payments have been received through these addresses. Our intelligence also collected weekly trends on how much money they had within them.

Figure 6 – Total Amount received (US Dollars) in that week  

Figure 6 shows that the amount of money received in these Bitcoin addresses is increasing weekly. This implies that scammers are successfully extorting money from more consumers. 

How to avoid these frauds? 

If you receive extortion emails, follow the steps outlined below. 

• Don’t make any decisions quickly and don’t panic. If you panic that will be a win for these scammers. 
• Mostly the stuff they scare you about in the mail is always false. As soon as you receive such think twice before sending payment emails, to block them and delete them. 
• Try to search important keywords on your search engines, for example, if scammers are claiming to exploit Cisco router vulnerabilities search that vulnerability with keywords like ‘BTC’, ‘hack’, and some other keywords from the email, and you will find many results which will help you to understand that the scammer’s claims are only false. 
• Try to discover more about the email you got, you can search for the sender’s address, the subject of the mail, or even certain paragraphs from the mail on the internet. You will surely get information on how these emails are only scareware.
• Keep yourself educated on such scams so that you can protect yourself.
• Keep your antivirus updated and do timely full scans of your machines.
• Don’t surf on questionable web pages or download illegal/cracked software. 

Despite advancements in technology, extortion frauds continue to increase as seen in this blog. However, the best defense against such scams is to remain calm, and informed, and to make others aware of such frauds. By following the steps mentioned above, such as not responding to or paying any ransom demands, keeping your system and software updated, using strong passwords, and being wary of unusual emails or links, you can protect yourself from falling victim to these frauds. It is important to stay vigilant and to report any questionable activity to the appropriate authorities. By taking these precautions, you can help prevent yourself and others from becoming victims of extortion fraud. 

The post Extortion Fraud is Still on the Rise appeared first on McAfee Blog.

“I bought a Mac, because it’s safer than a PC.” 

“I always surf the web with my iPhone, because I know it can’t get infected.” 

“I got a virus on my first PC, so now I only use Apple products.” 

Sound familiar? 

Too often, the rhetoric around the Mac vs. PC debate focuses on Apple’s presumed invincibility to cybercrime. Many people believe (a belief that is bolstered by Apple’s marketing of “security by design”) that unlike Windows devices, Apple products are immune to cyber threats. 

This logic is deeply flawed. Apple products can and do get hacked. People who believe their devices are unhackable are most at risk of falling to a cybercriminal. A false sense of security could blind people to the threats out there. 

In this article, we’ll explore the myth of Apple’s immunity to viruses and outline a few recent threats Mac users should be on the lookout for. 

Where Did the Myth Come From? 

The relative global unpopularity of Apple devices is likely a large contributor to the myth that they’re virus-proof. Worldwide, Android is far and away the most popular operating system. Seventy-two percent of global mobile devices run off Android. Apple iOS is in a far-away second place at 27%.1  

Cybercriminals are busy people just like the rest of us and want to get the most reach for their nefarious efforts. That’s why they design most viruses to attack Android systems: Because there are more possible targets to infect and propagate their illegal bugs. 

While Apple’s security systems are certainly robust, security is also a priority for every other mobile device and computing system out there. On your cellphone, tablet, or laptop, does it seem like you’re always getting alerts to update the software? In many cases, software updates are made in response to stop newly discovered threats that have or could possibly sneak through gaps in their current security protocols. No technology company wants to leave its users vulnerable to cybercriminals nor do leaders want their company in headlines for the wrong reasons. As long as you keep your devices up to date and follow a few digital safety best practices, you should be protected against many threats regardless of whether you have an Apple or Android operating system. 

Apple-specific Viruses to Watch Out For 

To further illustrate that Mac users should be just as careful online as everyone else, here are a few viruses that’ve broken through Apple’s excellent security lately. 

• XMRig. A pirated version of Final Cut Pro, an Apple-specific video editing software, was responsible for spreading crypto mining malware. Disguised as free editing software, users unknowingly downloaded XMRig, which diverts computing power to mining cryptocurrency for the cybercriminal’s own account. This malware is particularly sneaky because when users check their Activity Monitor, the program shuts down then reboots when the user exits Activity Monitor. So even when the user perceives that something is amiss with their machine, the machine shows that everything is normal.2 
• oRAT. This malware hid itself within ads and by hitching onto free software downloads. It had many capabilities, such as keystroke logging and giving itself admin access to Mac devices. Hackers used oRAT to spy on targets and potentially steal sensitive personal information.3 

Every villain necessitates a hero, and these recent Apple viruses underscore the importance of threat research and responsible vulnerability disclosure. Vulnerability disclosure refers to a company’s obligation to tell the public about their security flaws.  

Cybercriminals are getting faster and smarter every day. The collective power of a global community of researchers collaborating to identify and disclose critical vulnerabilities is an important step in eliminating these types of malicious campaigns. Equally as important is dissecting attacks in their aftermath to expose unique and interesting characteristics and empowering defenders and developers to mitigate these threats in the future. 

How to Keep Your Apple Device Safe 

The common theme among these Apple viruses is that people let their guard down and visited risky sites that were best left alone. Make sure to stick to safe downloading practices and avoid “free” versions of TV shows, movies, video games, and expensive software. While you don’t have to pull out your wallet, you may have to pay for these “free” downloads by replacing infected devices or restoring your compromised online security. 

To protect all your devices (including your Apple products) from viruses, consider investing in McAfee+ Ultimate. McAfee+ Ultimate includes antivirus for all your devices, unlimited VPN, and web protection to alert you to risky sites. Plus, if you’re ever unsure of the safety of your identity or your online privacy, McAfee lets you scan and remove your information from the dark web. Finally, the top-notch monitoring services allow you to go about your digital life confidently. 

1Statcounter, “Mobile Operating System Market Share Worldwide” 

2Bleeping Computer, “Pirated Final Cut Pro infects your Mac with cryptomining malware” 

3MacPaw, “How to protect your Mac against oRAT malware” 

The post Can Your Apple Devices Get Hacked? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Monkey in the middle, the beloved playground staple, extends beyond schoolyards into corporate networks, home desktops, and personal mobile devices in a not-so-fun way. Known as a monkey-in-the-middle or man-in-the-middle attack (MiTM), it’s a type of cybercrime that can happen to anyone.  

Here’s everything you need to know about MiTM schemes specifically, how to identify when your device is experiencing one, and how to protect your personally identifiable information (PII) and your device from cybercriminals.  

What Is a Man-in-the-Middle Mobile Attack?  

A man-in-the-middle attack, or MiTM attack, is a scheme where a cybercriminal intercepts someone’s online activity and impersonates a trusted person or organization. From there, the criminal may ask personal questions or attempt to get financial information; however, since the device owner thinks they’re communicating with someone with good intentions, they give up these details freely.  

MiTM is an umbrella term that includes several cybercrime tactics, such as:  

• IP spoofing. In this scheme, a criminal squeezes their way between two communicating parties by hiding their true IP address. (An IP address is the unique code assigned to each device that connects to the internet.) For example, the criminal may eavesdrop on a conversation between a bank representative and a customer. The criminal will pretend to be either party, gaining confidential financial information or giving incorrect banking details to route wire transfers to their own bank account.  
• MFA bombing. This occurs when a criminal gains access to someone’s login and password details but still needs to surpass a final barrier to enter a sensitive online account: a one-time, time-sensitive multifactor authentication (MFA) code. The criminal either barrages someone’s phone with code request texts until the person disables MFA in annoyance or the criminal impersonates a support employee and requests the code via phone, email, or text.   
• Session hijacking. Session hijacking occurs when a cybercriminal takes over a user’s conversation or sensitive internet session (like online banking or online shopping) and continues the session as if they are the legitimate user. The criminal can do this by stealing the user’s session cookie. 
• Router hacking. A cybercriminal can hack into wireless routers and then reroute your internet traffic to fake websites that request personal or financial information. Routers with weak passwords or factory-set passwords are vulnerable to being taken over by a bad actor. Or, a method that requires no hacking at all: A cybercriminal can set up a wireless router in a public place and trick people into connecting to it thinking it’s complementary Wi-Fi from a nearby establishment. 

Cybercriminals gain access to devices to carry out MiTM attacks through three main methods: Wi-Fi eavesdropping, malware, or phishing.  

How Can You Identify a MiTM Mobile Attack?   

The most common giveaway of a MiTM attack is a spotty internet connection. If a cybercriminal has a hold on your device, they may disconnect you from the internet so they can take your place in sessions or steal your username and password combination.  

If your device is overheating or the battery life is much shorter than normal, it could indicate that it is running malware in the background.  

How to Protect Your Device  

If you can identify the signs of a MiTM attack, that’s a great first step in protecting your device. Awareness of your digital surroundings is another way to keep your device and PII safe. Steer clear of websites that look sloppy, and do not stream or download content from unofficial sites. Malware is often hidden in links on dubious sites. Try your best to stick to sites that have URLs beginning with “https.” The “s” stands for “secure.” Though not all “https” sites are guaranteed secure, they are generally more trustworthy than plain “http” sites. 

To safeguard your Wi-Fi connection, protect your home router with a strong password or passphrase. When connecting to public Wi-Fi, confirm with the hotel or café’s staff their official Wi-Fi network name. Then, make sure to connect to a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN encrypts your online activity, which makes it impossible for someone to digitally eavesdrop. Never access your personal information when on an unprotected public Wi-Fi network. Leave your online banking and shopping for when you’re back on a locked network or VPN you can trust. 

Finally, a comprehensive antivirus software can clean up your device of malicious programs it might have contracted.  

McAfee+ Ultimate includes unlimited VPN and antivirus, plus a whole lot more to keep all your devices safe. It also includes web protection that alerts you to suspicious websites, identity monitoring, and monthly credit reports to help you browse safely and keep on top of any threats to your identity or credit.  

A cybercriminal’s prize for winning a digital scheme of monkey in the middle is your personal information. With preparation and excellent digital protection tools on your team, you can make sure you emerge victorious and safe. 

The post Everything You Need to Know to Avoid a Man-in-the-Middle Mobile Attack appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Ransomware. Even the name sounds scary. 

When you get down to it, ransomware is one of the nastiest attacks a hacker can wage. They target some of our most important and precious things—our files, our photos, and our information stored on our devices. Think about suddenly losing access to all of them and being forced to pay a ransom to get access back. Worse yet, paying the ransom is no guarantee the hacker will return them. 

That’s what a ransomware attack does. Broadly speaking, it’s a type of malware that infects a network or a device and then typically encrypts the files, data, and apps stored on it, digitally scrambling them so the proper owners can’t access them. Only a digital key can unlock them—one that the hacker holds. 

Nasty for sure, yet you can take several steps that can greatly reduce the risk of it happening to you. Our recently published Ransomware Security Guide breaks them down for you, and in this blog we’ll look at a few reasons why ransomware protection is so vital. 

How bad is ransomware, really? 

The short answer is pretty bad—to the tune of billions of dollars stolen from victims each year. Ransomware targets people and their families just as explained above. Yet it also targets large organizations, governments, and even companies that run critical stretches of energy infrastructure and the food supply chain. Accordingly, the ransom amounts for these victims climb into the millions of dollars.  

A few recent cases of large-scale ransomware attacks include:  

• JBS Foods, May 2021 – Organized ransomware attackers targeted JBS’s North American and Australian meat processing plants, which disrupted the distribution of food to supermarkets and restaurants. Fearing further disruption, the company paid more than $11 million worth of Bitcoin to the hacking group responsible.   

• Colonial Pipeline, May 2021 – In an attack that made major headlines, a ransomware attack shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline along the east coast of the U.S. Hackers compromised the network with an older password found on the dark web, letting the hackers inject their malware into Colonial’s systems. The pipeline operator said they paid nearly $4.5 million to the hackers responsible, some of which was recovered by U.S. law enforcement.  
• Kaseya, July 2021 – As many as 1,500 companies had their data encrypted by a ransomware attack that followed an initial ransomware attack on Kaseya, a company that provides IT solutions to other companies. Once the ransomware infiltrated Kaseya’s systems, it quickly spread to Kaseya’s customers. Rather than pay the ransom, Kaseya’ co-operated with U.S. federal law enforcement and soon obtained a decryption key that could restore any data encrypted in the attack.  

Who’s behind such attacks? Given the scope and scale of them, it’s often organized hacking groups. Put simply, these are big heists. It demands expertise to pull them off, not to mention further expertise to transfer large sums of cryptocurrency in ways that cover the hackers’ tracks.  

As for ransomware attacks on people and their families, the individual dollar amounts of an attack are far lower, typically in the hundreds of dollars. Again, the culprits behind them may be large hacking groups that cast a wider net for individual victims, where hundreds of successful attacks at hundreds of dollars each quickly add up. One example: a hacker group that posed as a government agency and as a major retailer, which mailed out thousands of USB drives infected with malware.  

Other ransomware hackers who target people and families are far less sophisticated. Small-time hackers and hacking groups can find the tools they need to conduct such attacks by shopping on the dark web, where ransomware is available for sale or for lease as a service (Ransomware as a Service, or RaaS). In effect, near-amateur hackers can grab a ready-to-deploy attack right off the shelf. 

Taken together, hackers will level a ransomware attack at practically anyone or any organization—making it everyone’s concern. 

How does ransomware end up on computers and phones? 

Hackers have several ways of getting ransomware onto one of your devices. Like any other type of malware, it can infect your device via a phishing link or a bogus attachment. It can also end up there by downloading apps from questionable app stores, with a stolen or hacked password, or through an outdated device or network router with poor security measures in place. And as mentioned above, infected storage devices provide another avenue. 

Social engineering attacks enter the mix as well, where the hacker poses as someone the victim knows and gets the victim to either download malware or provide the hacker access to an otherwise password-protected device, app, or network. 

And yes, ransomware can end up on smartphones as well.  

Smartphone ransomware can encrypt files, photos, and the like on a smartphone, just as it can on computers and networks. Yet other forms of mobile ransomware don’t have to encrypt data to make the phone unusable. The “Lockerpin” ransomware that has struck some Android devices in the past would change the PIN number that locked the phone. Other forms of lock screen ransomware would simply paste a warning over the home screen with a “pay up, or else” message. 

Still, ransomware isn’t as prevalent on smartphones as it is on computers, and there are several reasons why. For the most part, smartphone ransomware relies on people downloading malicious apps from app stores. Both Google Play and Apple’s App Store both do their part to keep their virtual shelves free of malware-laden apps with a thorough submission process, as reported by Google and Apple.  

Yet, bad actors find ways to sneak malware into the stores. Sometimes they upload an app that’s initially clean and then push the malware to users as part of an update. Other times, they’ll embed the malicious code so that it only triggers once it’s run in certain countries. They will also encrypt malicious code in the app that they submit, which can make it difficult for reviewers to sniff out.   

Further, Android allows users to download apps from third-party app stores that may or may not have a thorough app submission process in place, which can make them more susceptible to hosting malicious apps. Moreover, some third-party app stores are actually fronts for organized cybercrime gangs, built specifically to distribute malware.   

Basic steps to protect yourself from a ransomware attack. 

First, back up your data and files.

The people behind these attacks play on one of your greatest fears—that those important and precious things on your device might be gone forever. Yet with a backup, you have little to fear. You can simply restore any data and files that may have come under attack. Consider using a reputable cloud storage service that you protect with a strong, unique password. Similarly, you can back up your data locally on an external drive that you keep disconnected from your network and stored in a secure location. So while a backup won’t prevent an attack, it can most certainly minimize any threat or damage from one. 

Be careful of what you click.

Ransomware attackers use phishing emails, bogus direct messages in social media, and texts to help install malware on your device. Many of these messages can look quite legitimate, like they’re coming from a brand you know, a financial institution, or even the government. The links embedded in those messages will take you to some form of malicious website where you’re prompted to download a phony file or form—which is actually malware. Similarly, some phishing emails will simply send malware to the recipient in the form of a malicious attachment that masquerades as a legitimate document like an invoice, spreadsheet, or shipping notice. 

Use online protection software.

This provides your first line of defense. Online protection software includes several features that can stop a ransomware attack before it takes root:  

• Safe surfing features that warn you of malicious downloads, attachments, and websites. 
• Strong antivirus that spots and neutralizes the latest malware threats with the latest antivirus technologies. 
• Vulnerability scanners that help keep your device and its apps up to date with the latest security measures. 
• A firewall that helps prevent intruders from accessing the devices on your network—and the files on them. 

Yet more ways you can prevent ransomware attacks. 

That list is just for starters. Our Ransomware Security Guide goes even deeper on the topic. 

It gets into the details of what ransomware looks like and how it works, followed by the straightforward things you can do to prevent it, along with the steps to take if the unfortunate ends up happening to you or someone you know. 

Ransomware is one of the nastiest attacks going, because it targets our files, photos, and information, things we don’t know where we’d be without. Yet it’s good to know you can indeed lower your risk with a few relatively steps. Once you have them in place, chances are a good feeling will come over you, the one that comes with knowing you’ve protected what’s precious and important to you. 

The post How To Prevent Ransomware appeared first on McAfee Blog.

It’s important to note that the only time your communications are encrypted is when they’re in transit. They’re otherwise plain as day to see or hear. Thus, anyone who can open your phone can tap the app and access them (provided you don’t lock your phone or the WhatsApp app itself). And like any other message or photo that you send over the internet, nothing prevents the recipient from sharing your message with others by taking a screenshot or simply forwarding a photo to someone else. 

With that, no form of messaging is 100% private. Not WhatsApp. Not other messaging apps like it, with or without encryption. If you want to keep something entirely private, whether it’s a photo or a message, don’t send it over the internet. 

Does WhatsApp store your messages? 

Generally no, yet understanding the specifics calls for diving into their privacy policy. 

Once again, WhatsApp does not view your messages or listen to your calls. It only temporarily stores messages on their servers in the case of a few exceptions. As of April 2023, its policy states: 

We do not retain your messages in the ordinary course of providing our Services to you. Instead, your messages are stored on your device and not typically stored on our servers. Once your messages are delivered, they are deleted from our servers.  

In some cases, undelivered messages are kept in encrypted form on WhatsApp’s servers for up to 30 days or until the message is delivered. Also, WhatsApp may store media that you forward in a message temporarily in encrypted form on their servers to aid in more efficient delivery of additional forwards. 

What info does WhatsApp share with Meta (Facebook and Instagram)? 

Facebook (now known as Meta) purchased WhatsApp in 2014. Today, as one of the companies that falls under the Meta umbrella, WhatsApp “[R]eceives information from, and shares information with, the other Meta Companies.” Per WhatsApp’s privacy policy: 

WhatsApp must receive or collect some information to operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services, including when you install, access, or use our Services.  

Also per its privacy policy, WhatsApp (and Meta) uses that information: 

We use information we have (subject to choices you make and applicable law) to operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services. 

What does WhatsApp collect specifically? That may include location information if you’re using location-based services in the app. It may also include location information even if you aren’t using those services.  

In addition to location information, it may also include the following: 

• Hardware model and operating system information. 
• App version and browser information. 
• Mobile network and connection information (including phone number, mobile operator, or ISP). 
• Language and time zone. 
• IP address and device operations information. 
• Identifiers, including identifiers unique to “Meta Company Products” associated with the same device or account. 
• Usage and log information about your activity, including how you use their services, your services settings, how you interact with others using those services, and the time, frequency, and duration of your activities and interactions. 

Why does WhatsApp collect this information? The company may use it for the “safety, security, and integrity” of the app experience. It may use that information for marketing purposes as well. (Think targeted ads.) Likewise, WhatsApp may share this information with select third parties for the same purposes. 

So while WhatsApp may not know what’s in your messages, it potentially knows a great deal about you—like where you are, how you’re using their app, and for how long. And if you have a Facebook account, that may extend to your interests, what ads you’ve clicked on, which ones led to purchase, along with all the other information that Facebook knows about you.  

This is the “value exchange” that we talk about in our blogs so often, where you gain the value of using a  free app in exchange for something else, typically personal information that is used for marketing purposes. By agreeing to the terms of the user agreement you clicked when you first installed the app, you became a legally binding participant in this exchange. 

A few steps for making your time on WhatsApp more private and secure. 

Protect your privacy with a PIN. 

For starters, you can keep a thief or snoop from getting into your phone altogether by setting a screen lock with a PIN, facial recognition, or gesture lock. Surprisingly, from our recent global research found that only 56% of adults said that they protect their smartphone with some form of a screen lock. If you find yourself among them, consider making a change. Locking your phone offers terrific peace of mind in the event your phone gets lost or stolen.  

Additionally, WhatsApp also allows you to create a PIN for accessing the app itself. You can find this setting in Settings > Account > Two-Step verification. With both in place, you can effectively double-lock WhatsApp. As with any PIN, never give it out to anyone. Sharing it could compromise your security. 

Enable security notifications. 

WhatsApp has a setting that sends a notification in the event your security PIN code changes. If you have the app installed on multiple devices, you will need to enable it on those devices as well for it to work. You can enable this setting in Settings > Account > Security Notifications. 

Lock down your privacy settings. 

A quick trip to Settings > Privacy can limit what other WhatsApp users see and know about you. In that menu, you’ll see that you have several privacy options: 

• Last Seen & Online 
• Profile Photo 
• About 
• Groups 
• Status 

Setting these to “My Contacts” will prevent the broader WhatsApp user base from seeing this information about you. That includes potential spammers and scammers, thus taking this step can make you more private. So just in the same way we recommend that you set your social media accounts to “friends and family only,” we recommend doing the same here.   

Turn off location services for WhatsApp. 

Although WhatsApp can determine your location by other means, you can limit it from locating you with pinpoint accuracy by disabling location services for the app.  

On an iOS device, you can do that by going into Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and then scrolling down until you find WhatsApp. From there, you can disable its permissions with a tap.  

For Android, on your phone’s home screen, find the WhatsApp icon, then touch and hold it. Tap “App Info,” then “Permissions” then “Location.” Finally, select “Deny.”  

Don’t talk to strangers—and don’t click their links. 

As it is on so many platforms today, scammers abound. WhatsApp is no different, where scammers spin up bogus accounts and attempt to start conversations with other users. The way they go about it varies. They may try to kindle a romance scam, they may masquerade as a business representative, or even pose as a tax collector or other government official. The aim is always the same, though. They want to steal your personal information or trick you into forking over your money. Don’t take chances. Don’t talk to strangers. 

Other scammers will send messages with malicious links. Just as you shouldn’t follow links or open files from strangers in other apps, don’t do open them on WhatsApp either. Those links are simply gateways to scam sites and malware. 

Do you back up your WhatsApp chats? You’ll want to know this. 

If you back up your WhatsApp message histories in the cloud with Apple or Google, they are not encrypted. Once again, you can encrypt them while they are in transit by using “End-to-End Encrypted Backup,” but the histories themselves are not encrypted when they are stored in the cloud.  

For those who are particularly privacy-conscious, the idea of their messages, plus any attached photos and messages, being stored without encryption may give them pause. Even if that is in a relatively secure cloud service such as Apple’s or Google’s. Yet the risk of data breaches remains, as does the risk of a bad actor gaining access to one’s cloud account, such as through a stolen password. 

So, for an increased degree of privacy and security, you may want to consider disabling cloud backup for your WhatsApp messages. 

Protect your phone too. 

Comprehensive online protection software can protect your phone in the same ways that it protects your laptops and computers. Installing it can protect your privacy, keep you safe from attacks on public Wi-Fi, and automatically block unsafe websites and links (like the ones that might come to you in a spammy WhatsApp message), just to name a few things it can do. In all, given how much of our lives center around our phone—shopping, finances, splitting a dinner bill with friends, and so on, protecting your phone and the things you do on it makes sense. 

Know how to remotely lock or erase your phone. 

There’s a good chance you’ve experienced that moment of panic—the moment when you think you’ve really lost your phone, followed by the deep relief when you finally find it. But what happens if your phone ends up getting lost or stolen? A combination of device tracking, device locking, and remote erasing can help protect your phone and the data on it.  

Different device manufacturers have different ways of going about it, but the result is the same—you can you’re your phone, prevent others from using it, and even erase it if you’re truly worried that it’s in the wrong hands or simply gone for good. Apple provides iOS users with a step-by-step guide, and Google offers up a guide for Android users as well.  

WhatsApp: Pretty private, to a point. 

WhatsApp is indeed quite private when it comes to messages and voice communications when they are transmitted between people—yet not so much when it comes to other data that the app collects while you’re using it. 

While much of that data collection occurs thanks to the terms of its user agreement and privacy policy, you can take a few steps to limit it to a degree. You can take yet more steps that can make the time you spend on WhatsApp more secure as well. 

As with any free app, using it involves some sort of value exchange. Understanding what information the app does and does not collect can help you determine if that value exchange is right for you.  

The post How Private is WhatsApp Really? Staying Safer While Using the App. appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Authored by SangRyol Ryu

McAfee’s Mobile Research Team discovered a software library we’ve named Goldoson, which collects lists of applications installed, and a history of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices information, including nearby GPS locations. Moreover, the library is armed with the functionality to perform ad fraud by clicking advertisements in the background without the user’s consent. The research team has found more than 60 applications containing this third-party malicious library, with more than 100 million downloads confirmed in the ONE store and Google Play app download markets in South Korea. While the malicious library was made by someone else, not the app developers, the risk to installers of the apps remains. 

McAfee Mobile Security detects this threat as Android/Goldoson and protects customers from this and many other mobile threats. McAfee is a member of the App Defense Alliance focused on protecting users by preventing threats from reaching their devices and improving app quality across the ecosystem. We reported the discovered apps to Google, which took prompt action. Google has reportedly notified the developers that their apps are in violation of Google Play policies and fixes are needed to reach compliance. Some apps were removed from Google Play while others were updated by the official developers. Users are encouraged to update the apps to the latest version to remove the identified threat from their devices. 

Top 9 applications previously infected by Goldoson on Google Play

How does it affect users? 

The Goldoson library registers the device and gets remote configurations at the same time the app runs. The library name and the remote server domain varies with each application, and it is obfuscated. The name Goldoson is after the first found domain name. 

Remote configuration contains the parameters for each of functionalities and it specifies how often it runs the components. Based on the parameters, the library periodically checks, pulls device information, and sends them to the remote servers. The tags such as ‘ads_enable’ or ‘collect_enable’ indicates each functionality to work or not while other parameters define conditions and availability. 

A response of remote configuration

The library includes the ability to load web pages without user awareness. The functionality may be abused to load ads for financial profit. Technically, the library loads HTML code and injects it into a customized and hidden WebView and it produces hidden traffic by visiting the URLs recursively. 

Collected data is sent out periodically every two days but the cycle is subject to change by the remote configuration. The information contains some sensitive data including the list of installed applications, location history, MAC address of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi nearby, and more. This may allow individuals to be identified when the data is combined. The following tables show the data observed on our test device. 

Google Play considers the list of installed apps to be personal and sensitive user data and requires a special permission declaration to get it. Users with Android 11 and above are more protected against apps attempting to gather all installed apps. However, even with the recent version of Android, we found that around 10% of the apps with Goldoson have the permission “QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES” that allows them to access app information. 

Likewise, with Android 6.0 or higher, users may be asked for permissions such as Location, Storage, or Camera at runtime. If user allows the location permission, the app can access not only GPS data but also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth device information nearby. Based on BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier) and RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator), the application can determine the location of the device more accurately than GPS, especially indoors. 

A demo of runtime permission request

Where do the apps come from?

The infected applications come from various Android application stores. More than 100 million downloads have been tracked through Google Play. After that, ONE store, Korea’s leading app store, follows with about 8 million installations. 

Conclusion

As applications continue to scale in size and leverage additional external libraries, it is important to understand their behavior. App developers should be upfront about libraries used and take precautions to protect users’ information. McAfee Mobile Security products can also help detect threats and protect you from not only malware but also unwanted programs. For more information, visit our McAfee Mobile Security. 

Identified Apps and Goldoson Domains

Domains

• bhuroid.com
• enestcon.com
• htyyed.com
• discess.net
• gadlito.com
• gerfane.com
• visceun.com
• onanico.net
• methinno.net
• goldoson.net
• dalefs.com
• openwor.com
• thervide.net
• soildonutkiel.com
• treffaas.com
• sorrowdeepkold.com
• hjorsjopa.com
• dggerys.com
• ridinra.com
• necktro.com
• fuerob.com
• phyerh.net
• ojiskorp.net
• rouperdo.net
• tiffyre.net
• superdonaldkood.com
• soridok2kpop.com

List of Apps and Current Status

* Updated means that the recent application on Google Play does not contain the malicious library. 

** Removed means the application is not available on Google Play as of the time of posting. 

The post Goldoson: Privacy-invasive and Clicker Android Adware found in popular apps in South Korea appeared first on McAfee Blog.

What is a VPN (virtual private network)? And how can it make your time online more secure—and a little more private too? Here we’ll take a look at what a VPN is, what it has to offer, and how that benefits you.   

What is a VPN and how does it protect me?  

A VPN is an app that you install on your device to help keep your data safe as you browse the internet. When you turn on your VPN app, your device makes a secure connection to a VPN server that routes internet traffic. Securely. This keeps your online activity private on any network, shielding it from prying eyes. Thus, while you’re on a VPN, you can browse and bank with the confidence that your passwords, credentials, and financial information are secure. If any malicious actors attempt to intercept your web traffic, they’ll only see garbled content thanks to your VPN’s encryption functionality.   

Does a VPN change my IP address?  

Every internet connection is assigned a unique set of numbers called an IP address, which is tied to information such as geographic location or an Internet Service Provider (ISP). A VPN replaces your actual IP address to make it look like you’ve connected to the internet from the physical location of the VPN server, rather than your real location. This is just one reason why so many people use VPNs.  

How can I use a VPN to change my IP address? 

To change your IP address, you simply open your VPN app, select the server location you’d like to connect to, and you’re done. You’re now browsing with a new IP address. If you’d like to make sure your IP has changed, open a browser and search for “What’s my IP address” and click on one of the results.  

When should I use a VPN?  

An ideal case for using a VPN is when you’re using public Wi-Fi at the airport, a café, hotel, or just about any place “free Wi-Fi” is offered. The reason being is that these are open networks, and any somewhat enterprising cybercriminal can tap into these networks and harvest sensitive information as a result. One survey showed that 39% of internet users worldwide understand public Wi-Fi is unsafe, yet some users still bank, shop, and do other sensitive things on public Wi-Fi despite the understood risks. 

Further, you have your privacy to consider. You can use a VPN to help stop advertisers from tracking you. Searches you perform and websites you visit won’t be traced back to you, which can prevent advertisers from gleaning information about you and your online habits in general. Moreover, some ISPs collect the browsing history of their users and share it with advertisers and other third parties. A VPN can prevent this type of collection as well. 

Can a VPN protect my search history?  

A VPN protects your search history through the secure connection you share. When you search for a website, or type a URL into your navigation bar, your device sends something called a DNS request, which translates the website into the IP address of the web server. This is how your browser can find the website and serve its content to you. By encrypting your DNS requests, a VPN can hide your search habits and history from those that might use that info as part of building a profile of you. This type of info could be used in a wide variety of ways, from legitimately serving targeted ads to nefarious social engineering.   

Are VPNs and “Incognito Mode” and “Private Mode” in browsers the same thing? 

Note that a VPN is quite different and far, far more comprehensive than using “Private Mode” or “Incognito Mode” on your browser. Those modes only hide your search history locally on your device—not from others on the internet, like ISPs and advertisers. 

Does a VPN make me anonymous?  

No, a VPN cannot make you anonymous. Not entirely anyway. They help secure what you’re doing, but your ISP still knows when you’re using the internet. They just can’t see what you’re doing, what sites you visit, or how long you’ve been on a site.  

What about services like Apple Private Relay?  

Apple’s Private Relay is similar to a VPN in that it changes your IP address so websites you visit can’t tell exactly where you are. It works on iOS and Macs as part of an iCloud+ subscription. Yet there is one important distinction: it only protects your privacy while surfing with the Safari browser. 

Per Apple, it works like this: 

When Private Relay is enabled, your requests are sent through two separate, secure internet relays. Your IP address is visible to your network provider and to the first relay, which is operated by Apple. Your DNS records are encrypted, so neither party can see the address of the website you’re trying to visit. The second relay, which is operated by a third-party content provider, generates a temporary IP address, decrypts the name of the website you requested, and connects you to the site. All of this is done using the latest internet standards to maintain a high-performance browsing experience while protecting your privacy. 

Note that as of this writing, Apple Private Relay is not available in all countries and regions. If you travel somewhere that Private Relay isn’t available, it will automatically turn off and will notify you when it’s unavailable and once more when it’s active again. You can learn more about it here and how you can enable it on your Apple devices. 

Do I need a VPN if I have Apple Private Relay?  

As mentioned above, Private Relay only works with Safari on iOS and macOS as part of an iCloud+ subscription. Even if you are using an Apple device, a VPN is still a good idea because it will protect the information that your device sends outside of Safari—such as any info passed along by your apps or any other browsers you may use. 

How to get your own VPN  

An unlimited VPN with bank-grade encryption comes as part of your McAfee+ subscription and provides the security and privacy benefits above with bank-grade encryption. Additionally, it turns on automatically any time you connect to an unsecured Wi-Fi network, which takes the guesswork out of when you absolutely need to use it.  

In all, our VPN makes it practically impossible for cybercriminals or advertisers to access so that what you do online remains anonymous, so you can enjoy your time online with confidence. 

The post What is a VPN? How It Can Make Your Time Online More Private and Secure. appeared first on McAfee Blog.

The pop-up toaster as we know it first hit the shelves in 1926, under the brand name “Toastmaster.” With a familiar springy *pop*, it has ejected toast just the way we like it for nearly a century. Given that its design was so simple and effective, it’s remained largely unchanged. Until now. Thanks to the internet and so called “smart home” devices. 

Toasters, among other things, are all getting connected. And have been for a few years now, to the point where the number of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices reaches well into the billions worldwide—which includes smart home devices.  

Businesses use IoT devices to track shipments and various aspects of their supply chain. Cities use them to manage traffic flow and monitor energy use. (Does your home have a smart electric meter?) And for people like us, we use them to play music on smart speakers, see who’s at the front door with smart doorbells, and order groceries from an LCD screen on our smart refrigerators—just to name a few ways we have welcomed IoT smart home devices into our households.  

In the U.S. alone, smart home devices make up a $30-plus billion marketplace per year. However, it’s still a relatively young marketplace. And with that comes several security issues.  

IoT security issues and big-time botnet attacks 

First and foremost, many of these devices still lack sophisticated security measures, which makes them easy pickings for cybercriminals. Why would a cybercriminal target that smart lightbulb in your living room reading lamp? Networks are only as secure as their least secure device. Thus, if a cybercriminal can compromise that smart lightbulb, it can potentially give them access to the entire home network it is on—along with all the other devices and data on it. 

These devices make desirable targets for another reason. They can easily get conscripted into botnets, networks of hijacked computers and devices used to amplify Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that organize the devices into an attacking host that can flood a target with so much traffic that it cannot operate. DDoS attacks can shut down websites, disrupt service and even choke traffic across broad swathes of the internet.  

Remember the “Mirai” botnet attack of 2016, where hackers targeted a major provider of internet infrastructure? It ended up crippling traffic in concentrated areas across the U.S., including the northeast, Great Lakes, south-central, and western regions. Millions of internet users were affected, people, businesses, and government workers alike.  

Another headline-maker was the Amazon Web Services (AWS) attack in 2020. AWS provides cloud computing services to millions of businesses and organizations, large and small. Those customers saw slowdowns and disruptions for three days, which in turn slowed down and disrupted the people and services that wanted to connect with them.  

The Mirai and AWS stand out as two of the highest-profile DDoS attacks, yet smaller botnet attacks abound, ones that don’t make headlines. Still, they can disrupt the operations of websites, public infrastructure, and businesses, not to mention the well-being of people who rely the internet. 

Botnet attacks: Security shortcomings in IoT and smart home devices 

How do cybercriminals harness these devices for attacks? Well, as the case with many early IoT devices, the fault lies within the weak default passwords that many manufacturers employ when they sell these devices. These passwords include everything from “admin123” to the product’s name. The practice is so common that they get posted in bulk on hacking websites, making it easy for cybercriminals to simply look up the type of device they want to attack. 

Complicating security yet further is the fact that some IoT and smart home device manufacturers introduce flaws in their design, protocols, and code that make them susceptible to attack. The thought gets yet more unsettling when you consider that some of the flaws were found in things like smart door locks. 

The ease in which IoT devices can be compromised is a big problem. The solution, however, starts with manufacturers that develop IoT devices with security in mind. Everything in these devices will need to be deployed with the ability to accept security updates and embed strong security solutions from the get-go. 

Until industry standards get established to ensure such basic security, a portion of securing your IoT and smart home devices falls on us, as people and consumers. 

Steps for a more secure network and smart devices 

As for security, you can take steps that can help keep you safer. Broadly speaking, they involve two things: protecting your devices and protecting the network they’re on. These security measures will look familiar, as they follow many of the same measures you can take to protect your computers, tablets, and phones. 

Grab online protection for your smartphone. 

Many smart home devices use a smartphone as a sort of remote control, not to mention as a place for gathering, storing, and sharing data. So whether you’re an Android owner or iOS owner, use online protection software on your phone to help keep it safe from compromise and attack.  

Don’t use the default—Set a strong, unique password. 

One issue with many IoT devices is that they often come with a default username and password. This could mean that your device and thousands of others just like it all share the same credentials, which makes it painfully easy for a hacker to gain access to them because those default usernames and passwords are often published online. When you purchase any IoT device, set a fresh password using a strong method of password creation, such as ours. Likewise, create an entirely new username for additional protection as well. 

Use multi-factor authentication. 

Online banks, shops, and other services commonly offer multi-factor authentication to help protect your accounts—with the typical combination of your username, password, and a security code sent to another device you own (often a mobile phone). If your IoT device supports multi-factor authentication, consider using it there too. It throws a big barrier in the way hackers who simply try and force their way into your device with a password/username combination. 

Secure your internet router too. 

Another device that needs good password protection is your internet router. Make sure you use a strong and unique password there as well to help prevent hackers from breaking into your home network. Also consider changing the name of your home network so that it doesn’t personally identify you. Fun alternatives to using your name or address include everything from movie lines like “May the Wi-Fi be with you” to old sitcom references like “Central Perk.” Also check that your router is using an encryption method, like WPA2 or the newer WPA3, which will keep your signal secure. 

Upgrade to a newer internet router. 

Older routers may have outdated security measures, which may make them more prone to attack. If you’re renting yours from your internet provider, contact them for an upgrade. If you’re using your own, visit a reputable news or review site such as Consumer Reports for a list of the best routers that combine speed, capacity, and security. 

Update your apps and devices regularly. 

In addition to fixing the odd bug or adding the occasional new feature, updates often address security gaps. Out-of-date apps and devices may have flaws that hackers can exploit, so regular updating is a must from a security standpoint. If you can set your smart home apps and devices to receive automatic updates, even better. 

Set up a guest network specifically for your IoT devices. 

Just as you can offer your guests secure access that’s separate from your own devices, creating an additional network on your router allows you to keep your computers and smartphones separate from IoT devices. This way, if an IoT device is compromised, a hacker will still have difficulty accessing your other devices on your primary network, the one where you connect your computers and smartphones. 

Shop smart. 

Read trusted reviews and look up the manufacturer’s track record online. Have their devices been compromised in the past? Do they provide regular updates for their devices to ensure ongoing security? What kind of security features do they offer? And privacy features too? Resources like Consumer Reports can provide extensive and unbiased information that can help you make a sound purchasing decision. 

Don’t let botnets burn your toast 

As more and more connected devices make their way into our homes, the need to ensure that they’re secure only increases. More devices mean more potential avenues of attack, and your home networks is only as secure as the least secure device that’s on it. 

While standards put forward by industry groups such as UL and Matter have started to take root, a good portion of keeping IoT and smart home devices secure falls on us as consumers. Taking the steps above can help prevent your connected toaster from playing its part in a botnet army attack—and it can also protect your network and your home from getting hacked. 

It’s no surprise that IoT and smart home devices are raking in billions of dollars of years. They introduce conveniences and little touches into our homes that make life more comfortable and enjoyable. However, they’re still connected devices. And like anything that’s connected, they must get protected. 

The post What is a Botnet? And What Does It Have to Do with Protecting “Smart Home” Devices? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

“Zero-day threat.” It may sound like the title of a hit film, yet it’s anything but.  

It’s a previously unknown vulnerability that hackers can exploit to unleash unforeseen attacks on computers, smartphones, or networks—making essentially any connected device or system potentially susceptible to attack. After all, today’s devices and code are complex and riddled with dependencies. Even with testing, vulnerabilities can remain elusive, until developers or hackers eventually discover them. 

The term “zero day” gets its name from the age of the threat, meaning that developers and security professionals have had “zero days” to address the threat, making it potentially quite damaging.  

And it’s not uncommon for major zero-day threats to make the headlines:  

• In 2021, reports arose of Minecraft players coming under attack. Hackers discovered a vulnerability in the code that allowed them to take control of the computer playing the game, along with the files and information it contained. As it turned out, the threat was far more widespread. The vulnerable code involved a commonly used Java library, used by thousands and thousands of different applications worldwide, not just Minecraft, causing businesses, organizations, and governments to scour their applications for the affected Java library and put measures in place to mitigate the threat. 
• Spring 2022 saw the rise of a vulnerability dubbed “Follina,” which allowed hackers to remotely take control over a system using a combination of a Microsoft Word document and a diagnostic support tool—which could put a person’s sensitive documents and account information at risk. Microsoft subsequently issued a security patch that disabled the attack vector. 
• Corporate networks fall victim to zero-day vulnerabilities as well, such as in 2014 when hackers used an undiscovered vulnerability to break into the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Hackers raided unreleased copies of movies, scripts, and other information as part of the attack. 

Back in the early days of the internet, hackers typically released malware that was an annoyance, such as scrolling profanity across the screen or causing a malware-infected computer to crash. The examples above show how greatly that’s changed.  

Today, hackers use malware to make a profit, whether by holding your device and data hostage, tricking you into revealing your personal information so the hacker can access your financial accounts, or by installing spyware that secretly steals information like passwords and account info while you use your device. 

That’s what makes zero-day threats so dangerous for us today. Hackers can exploit zero-day vulnerabilities through different means, but traditionally web browsers have been the most common, due to their popularity. Attackers also send emails with attachments, or you might click a link in the body of an email that automatically downloads malware. All of these could now be putting you at risk. 

Likewise, security measures have come a long way since the early days. In particular, the antivirus applications included with today’s comprehensive online protection software have technologies in place that directly combat zero-day threats—specifically artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). 

Without getting too technical about it, strong antivirus uses AI and ML to sniff out malware by looking at how an application or device is behaving and if that behavior looks suspicious based on past patterns. In other words, strong antivirus is smart. It can detect, block, and remove zero-day threats before they can do their damage. 

So, just as hackers exploit zero-day vulnerabilities, you can thwart zero-day vulnerabilities with strong antivirus.  

Protecting yourself from zero-day threats 

Today, McAfee registers an average of 1.1 million new malicious programs and potentially unwanted apps (PUA) each day, which makes zero-day protection an absolute boon for anyone who goes online—and online protection like ours offers some of the strongest antivirus protection you can get, as recognized by independent third-party labs.  

Online protection software does a few other things for you as well when it comes to malware attacks: 

• It alerts you of suspicious links in emails, texts, and direct messages before you click or tap on them, which can prevent bad actors from infecting your device with malware.  
• It can also alert you of dangerous websites while you surf, once more steering you clear of phishing websites and other sites that host malware. 
• And it includes a firewall, which can protect your network and the devices on them from attack by filtering both incoming and outgoing traffic. 

Beyond using online protection software with strong antivirus, you can take a few more steps that will keep you safer still: 

1. Update your browser, operating system, and applications

 In addition to often providing new features and functionality, updates fix the vulnerabilities in your apps and operating systems, which strengthens your protection against malware. 

2. Uninstall old apps

The more software you have, the more potential vulnerabilities you have. By uninstalling old apps, you leave hackers with fewer avenues of attack. Take a look at your computers and smartphones. Delete the old apps you no longer use, along with any accounts and data associated with them as well. Another benefit is that this can potentially reduce your risk if the companies behind those apps get hit by a data breach. 

3. Don’t click on links in emails, texts, and direct messages 

This is a good rule of thumb in general, but it can definitely help you protect against zero-day attacks. The same holds true for email attachments. Never open them from unknown senders. And if you receive one from a friend, family member, or co-worker, take a quick second to confirm that they sent it. Some attackers masquerade as people we know, and in some cases hack their accounts so they can spread malware in their name. 

Zero-day threats call for zero-day protection 

As the number of apps and devices on the internet have seen explosive growth in recent years, so has the volume of malware—much of it zero-day threats that take advantage of newly discovered vulnerabilities. Hidden within millions and millions of lines of code, dependencies, and interactions, zero-day threats will remain the rule, rather than the exception. 

However, antivirus technology has more than kept up, particularly by leaning on smart technologies that can detect zero-day threats before they become known threats. Using strong antivirus, as part of online protection software that contains even more security features still, remains an absolute best practice for anyone who spends any kind of time online. 

The post What is a Zero-Day Threat? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Ransomware. Even the name sounds scary. 

When you get down to it, ransomware is one of the nastiest attacks a hacker can wage. They target some of our most important and precious things—our files, our photos, and the information stored on our devices. Think about suddenly losing access to all of them and being forced to pay a ransom to get access back. Worse yet, paying the ransom is no guarantee the hacker will return them. 

That’s what a ransomware attack does. Broadly speaking, it’s a type of malware that infects a network or a device and then typically encrypts the files, data, and apps stored on it, digitally scrambling them so the proper owners can’t access them. Only a digital key can unlock them—one that the hacker holds. 

Nasty for sure, yet you can take several steps that can greatly reduce the risk of it happening to you. Our recently published Ransomware Security Guide breaks them down for you, and in this blog we’ll look at a few reasons why ransomware protection is so vital. 

How bad is ransomware, really? 

The short answer is pretty bad—to the tune of billions of dollars stolen from victims each year. Ransomware targets people and their families just as explained above. Yet it also targets large organizations, governments, and even companies that run critical stretches of energy infrastructure and the food supply chain. Accordingly, the ransom amounts for these victims climb into millions of dollars.  

A few recent cases of large-scale ransomware attacks include:  

• JBS Foods, May 2021 – Organized ransomware attackers targeted JBS’s North American and Australian meat processing plants, which disrupted the distribution of food to supermarkets and restaurants. Fearing further disruption, the company paid more than $11 million worth of Bitcoin to the hacking group responsible.   
• Colonial Pipeline, May 2021 – In an attack that made major headlines, a ransomware attack shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline along the east coast of the U.S. Hackers compromised the network with an older password found on the dark web, letting the hackers inject their malware into Colonial’s systems. The pipeline operator said they paid nearly $4.5 million to the hackers responsible, some of which was recovered by U.S. law enforcement.  
• Kaseya, July 2021 – As many as 1,500 companies had their data encrypted by a ransomware attack that followed an initial ransomware attack on Kaseya, a company that provides IT solutions to other companies. Once the ransomware infiltrated Kaseya’s systems, it quickly spread to Kaseya’s customers. Rather than pay the ransom, Kaseya’ co-operated with U.S. federal law enforcement and soon obtained a decryption key that could restore any data encrypted in the attack.  

Who’s behind such attacks? Given the scope and scale of them, it’s often organized hacking groups. Put simply, these are big heists. It demands expertise to pull them off, not to mention further expertise to transfer large sums of cryptocurrency in ways that cover the hackers’ tracks.  

As for ransomware attacks on people and their families, the individual dollar amounts of an attack are far lower, typically in the hundreds of dollars. Again, the culprits behind them may be large hacking groups that cast a wider net for individual victims, where hundreds of successful attacks at hundreds of dollars each quickly add up. One example: a hacker group that posed as a government agency and as a major retailer, which mailed out thousands of USB drives infected with malware.  

Other ransomware hackers who target people and families are far less sophisticated. Small-time hackers and hacking groups can find the tools they need to conduct such attacks by shopping on the dark web, where ransomware is available for sale or for lease as a service (Ransomware as a Service, or RaaS). In effect, near-amateur hackers can grab a ready-to-deploy attack right off the shelf. 

Taken together, hackers will level a ransomware attack at practically anyone or any organization—making it everyone’s concern. 

How does ransomware end up on computers and phones? 

Hackers have several ways of getting ransomware onto one of your devices. Like any other type of malware, it can infect your device via a phishing link or a bogus attachment. It can also end up there by downloading apps from questionable app stores, with a stolen or hacked password, or through an outdated device or network router with poor security measures in place. And as mentioned above, infected storage devices provide another avenue. 

Social engineering attacks enter the mix as well, where the hacker poses as someone the victim knows and gets the victim to either download malware or provide the hacker access to an otherwise password-protected device, app, or network. 

And yes, ransomware can end up on smartphones as well.  

While not a prevalent as other types of malware attacks, smartphone ransomware can encrypt files, photos, and the like on a smartphone, just as it can on computers and networks. Yet other forms of mobile ransomware don’t have to encrypt data to make the phone unusable. The “Lockerpin” ransomware that has struck some Android devices in the past would change the PIN number that locked the phone. Other forms of mobile ransomware paste a window over the phone’s apps, making them unusable without decrypting the ransomware. 

Avoiding ransomware in the first place 

Part of avoiding ransomware involves reducing human error—keeping a watchful eye open for those spammy links, malicious downloads, bogus emails, and basically keeping your apps and devices up to date so that they have the latest security measures in place. The remainder relies on a good dose of prevention.  

Our Ransomware Security Guide provides a checklist for both. 

It gets into the details of what ransomware looks like and how it works, followed by the straightforward things you can do to prevent it, along with the steps to take if the unfortunate ends up happening to you or someone you know. 

Ransomware is one of the nastiest attacks going because it targets our files, photos, and information, things we don’t know where we’d be without. Yet it’s good to know you can indeed lower your risk with a few relatively simple steps. Once you have them in place, chances are a good feeling will come over you, the one that comes with knowing you’ve protected what’s precious and important to you. 

The post Your Guide to Ransomware—and Preventing It Too appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Social media platforms often get a hard time by us parents. But a recent announcement by TikTok of industry first screen time limits might just be enough to win you over. On March 1, the social media platform announced that it will automatically impose a 60-minute daily screen time limit to every account belonging to a user that is under the age of 18. How good??  

I hear what you’re thinking – maybe we can cross TikTok off our list of social media platforms that we need to get our head around? But no, my friends – not so fast! Tik Tok’s new screen time limits are all about parental involvement – which is why I am a fan! So, buckle-up because if you have an under 18 on TikTok (and you’re committed to their digital well-being) then my prediction is that you’ll soon know more about this social media platform than you even thought was possible!  

How Do The New Screen Time Limits Work? 

Over the coming weeks, every account that belongs to an under 18-year-old will automatically be set to a 60-minute daily screen time limit. Once they’ve clocked up an hour of scrolling, teens will be asked to enter a passcode, which TikTok will supply, to keep using the platform. TikTok refers to this as an ‘active decision’.  

So, clearly this isn’t quite the silver bullet to all your screen time worries as teens can choose to opt out of the 60-minute limits. But if they do choose to opt out and then spend more than 100 minutes a day on the platform, they will be prompted to set a daily screen time limit. ‘Will that actually do anything?’ – I hear you say. Well, in the first month of testing this approach, TikTok found that this strategy resulted in a 234% increase in the use of its screen time management tools – a move in the right direction! 

But Wait, There’s More… 

But here’s the part I love the most: TikTok offers Family Pairing which allows you to link your child’s account to yours. And as soon as you enable Family Pairing, your teen is no longer in control of their own screen time.  

Now, don’t get me wrong – I am not a fan of the authoritarian approach when it comes to all things tech. I do prefer a consultative ‘let’s work together’ vibe. However, TikTok’s move to involve parents in making decisions about their child’s screen time means that families will need to talk digital wellbeing more than ever before and here’s why… 

Within the Family Pairings settings, parents are able to set screen time limits based on the day of the week which means homework and holidays can be worked around. There is also a dashboard that shows your child’s screen time usage, the number of times the app was opened plus a breakdown of time spent during the day and night. Now, with all this control and information, you’ll be in quite the powerful position so be prepared to be sold hard by your teen on many the benefits of TikTok!  

Maybe It’s Time for A Family Digital Contract? 

For years I have been a fan of creating a Family Digital Contract which means you get to outline your family’s expectations around technology use. Now the agreement can include time spent online, the sites that can be visited and even the behaviour you expect of your child when they are online. So, if your kids are avid TikTok users then I highly recommend you do this ASAP. Check out the Family Safety Agreement from the Family Online Safety Institute as a starting point but I always recommend tailoring it to suit the needs of your own tribe.   

But let’s keep it real – your kids are not always going to comply, remember how you pushed the boundaries when you were young?? And that’s OK if they understand why their actions weren’t ideal and you have a suitable level of confidence that they will get back on track. However, if you have concerns that they need an additional level of structure to ensure their digital wellbeing remains intact then that’s when TikTok’s Family Pairing can work a treat! 

It’s no secret that social media can be incredibly captivating, possibly even addicting, for so many. And it’s not just TikTok – Instagram, Facebook even Twitter has all been designed to give us regular hits of dopamine with each scroll, like and post. And while I know that parental controls are only one part of the solution, they can be very handy if you need to bring your tween’s usage under control. 

Remember, Conversations Are King! 

But when all is said and done, please remember that the strength of your relationship with your child is the best way of keeping them safe online and their wellbeing intact. If your kids know that they can come to you about any issue at all – and that you will always have their back – then you’re winning!!  

So, be interested in their life – both online and offline – ask questions – who do they hang with? How do they spend their time? And remember to share your online experience with them too – get yourself a little ‘tech’ cred – because I promise they will be more likely to come to you when there is a problem. 

‘Till next time – keep talking!! 

Alex  

The post What Parents Need To Know About TikTok’s New Screen Time Limits appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Ping, it’s a scammer! 

The sound of an incoming email, text, or direct message has a way of getting your attention, so you take a look and see what’s up. It happens umpteen times a week, to the extent that it feels like the flow of your day. And scammers want to tap into that with sneaky phishing attacks that catch you off guard, all with the aim of stealing your personal information or bilking you out of your money.  

Phishing attacks take several forms, where scammers masquerade as a legitimate company, financial institution, government agency, or even as someone you know. And they’ll come after you with messages that follow suit: 

• “You have a package coming to you, but we’re having a problem with delivering it. Please click here to provide delivery information receive your package.” 
• “We spotted what may be unusual activity on your credit card. Follow this link to confirm your account information.” 
• “You owe back taxes. Send payment immediately using this link or we will refer your case to law enforcement.” 

You can see why phishing attacks can be so effective. Messages like these have an urgency to them, and they seem like they’re legit, or they at least seem like they might deal with something you might care about. But of course they’re just a ruse. And some of them can look and sound rather convincing. Or at least convincing enough that you’ll not only give them a look, but that you’ll also give them a click too. 

And that’s where the troubles start. Clicking the links or attachments sent in a phishing attack can lead to several potentially nasty things, such as: 

• A phony login page where they scammer tries to steal account credentials from you. 
• A malware download that can install keylogging software for stealing passwords and other information as you type. 
• Spyware that hijacks information on your device and secretly sends it back to the scammer. 
• Ransomware that holds a device and its data hostage until a fee is paid. (By the way, never pay off a ransomware threat. There’s no guarantee that payment will release your device and data back to you.) 

However, plenty of phishing attacks are preventable. A mix of knowing what to look for and putting a few security steps in place can help you keep scammers at bay. 

What do phishing attacks look like? 

How you end up with one has a lot to do with it.  

There’s a good chance you’ve already seen your share of phishing attempts on your phone. A text comes through with a brief message that one of your accounts needs attention, from an entirely unknown number. Along with it is a link that you can tap to follow up, which will send you to a malicious site. In some cases, the sender may skip the link and attempt to start a conversation with the aim of getting you to share your personal information or possibly fork over some payment with a gift card, money order, rechargeable debit card, or other form of payment that is difficult to trace and recover. 

In the case of social media, you can expect that the attack will come from an imposter account that’s doing its best to pose as one of those legitimate businesses or organizations we talked about, or perhaps as a stranger or even someone you know. And the name and profile pic will do its best to play the part. If you click on the account that sent it, you may see that it was created only recently and that it has few to no followers, both of which are red flags. The attack is typically conversational, much like described above where the scammer attempts to pump you for personal info or money. 

Attacks that come by direct messaging apps will work much in the same way. The scammer will set up a phony account, and where the app allows, a phony name and a phony profile pic to go along with it. 

Email gets a little more complicated because emails can range anywhere from a few simple lines of text to a fully designed piece complete with images, formatting, and embedded links—much like a miniature web page.  

In the past, email phishing attacks looked rather unsophisticated, rife with poor spelling and grammar, along with sloppy-looking layouts and images. That’s still sometimes the case today. Yet not always. Some phishing emails look like the real thing. Or nearly so. 

Examples of phishing attacks  

Case in point, here’s a look at a phishing email masquerading as a McAfee email:

There’s a lot going on here. The scammers try to mimic the McAfee brand, yet don’t quite pull it off. Still, they do several things to try and be convincing.  

Note the use of photography and the box shot of our software, paired with a prominent “act now” headline. It’s not the style of photography we use. Not that people would generally know this. However, some might have a passing thought like, “Huh. That doesn’t really look right for some reason.”  

Beyond that, there are a few capitalization errors, some misplaced punctuation, plus the “order now” and “60% off” icons look rather slapped on. Also note the little dash of fear it throws in at the top of the email with mention of “There are (42) viruses on your computer.”  

Taken all together, you can spot many email scams by taking a closer look, seeing what doesn’t feel right, and then trusting you gut. But that asks you to slow down, take a moment, and eyeball the email critically. Which people don’t always do. And that’s what scammers count on. 

Similar ploys see scammers pose as legitimate companies and retailers, where they either ask you to log into a bogus account page to check statement or the status of an order. Some scammers offer links to “discount codes” that are instead links to landing pages designed steal your account login information as well. Similarly, they may simply send a malicious email attachment with the hope that you’ll click it. 

In other forms of email phishing attacks, scammers may pose as a co-worker, business associate, vendor, or partner to get the victim to click a malicious link or download malicious software. These may include a link to a bogus invoice, spreadsheet, notetaking file, or word processing doc—just about anything that looks like it could be a piece of business correspondence. Instead, the link leads to a scam website that asks the victim “log in and download” the document, which steals account info as a result. Scammers may also include attachments to phishing emails that can install malware directly on the device, sometimes by infecting an otherwise everyday document with a malicious payload. 

Email scammers may also pose as someone you know, whether by propping up an imposter email account or by outright hijacking an existing account. The attack follows the same playbook, using a link or an attachment to steal personal info, request funds, or install malware. 

How to avoid phishing attacks 

While you can’t outright stop phishing attacks from making their way to your computer or phone, you can do several things to keep yourself from falling to them. Further, you can do other things that may make it more difficult for scammers to reach you. 

1. Pause and think about the message for a minute. 

The content and the tone of the message can tell you quite a lot. Threatening messages or ones that play on fear are often phishing attacks, such angry messages from a so-called tax agent looking to collect back taxes. Other messages will lean heavy on urgency, like the phony McAfee phishing email above that says your license has expired today and that you have “(42)” viruses. And during the holidays, watch out for loud, overexcited messages about deep discounts on hard-to-find items. Instead of linking you off to a proper ecommerce site, they may link you to a scam shopping site that does nothing but steal your money and the account information you used to pay them. In all, phishing attacks indeed smell fishy. Slow down and review that message with a critical eye. It may tip you off to a scam. 

2. Deal directly with the company or organization in question. 

Some phishing attacks can look rather convincing. So much so that you’ll want to follow up on them, like if your bank reports irregular activity on your account or a bill appears to be past due. In these cases, don’t click on the link in the message. Go straight to the website of the business or organization in question and access your account from there. Likewise, if you have questions, you can always reach out to their customer service number or web page. 

3. Consider the source. 

When scammers contact you via social media, that in of itself can be a tell-tale sign of a scam. Consider, would an income tax collector contact you over social media? The answer there is no. For example, in the U.S. the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) makes it quite clear that they will never contact taxpayers via social media. (Let alone send angry, threatening messages.) In all, legitimate businesses and organizations don’t use social media as a channel for official communications. They have accepted ways they will, and will not, contact you. If you have any doubts about a communication you received, contact the business or organization in question directly and follow up with one of their customer service representatives.  

4. Don’t download attachments. And most certainly don’t open them. 

Some phishing attacks involve attachments packed with malware like the ransomware, viruses, and keyloggers we mentioned earlier. If you receive a message with such an attachment, delete it. Even if you receive an email with an attachment from someone you know, follow up with that person. Particularly if you weren’t expecting an attachment from them. Scammers will often hijack or spoof email accounts of everyday people to spread malware. 

5. Hover over links to verify the URL. 

On computers and laptops, you can hover your cursor over links without clicking on them to see the web address. Take a close look at the addresses the message is using. If it’s an email, look at the email address. Maybe the address doesn’t match the company or organization at all. Or maybe it looks like it almost does, yet it adds a few letters or words to the name. This marks yet another sign that you may have a phishing attack on your hands. Scammers also use the common tactic of a link shortener, which creates links that almost look like strings of indecipherable text. These shortened links mask the true address, which may indeed be a link to scam site. Delete the message. If possible, report it. Many social media platforms and messaging apps have built-in controls for reporting suspicious accounts and messages. 

6. Go with who you know. 

On social media and messaging platforms, stick to following, friending, and messaging people who you really know. As for those people who contact you out of the blue, be suspicious. Sad to say, they’re often scammers canvassing these platforms for victims. Better yet, where you can, set your profile to private, which makes it more difficult for scammers select and stalk you for an attack. 

7. Remove your personal information from sketchy data broker sites. 

How’d that scammer get your phone number or email address anyway? Chances are, they pulled that information off a data broker site. Data brokers buy, collect, and sell detailed personal information, which they compile from several public and private sources, such as local, state, and federal records, plus third parties like supermarket shopper’s cards and mobile apps that share and sell user data. Moreover, they’ll sell it to anyone who pays for it, including people who’ll use that information for scams. You can help reduce those scam texts and calls by removing your information from those sites. Our Personal Data Cleanup scans some of the riskiest data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info.  

8. Use online protection software. 

Online protection software can protect you in several ways. First, it can offer safe browsing features that can identify malicious links and downloads, which can help prevent clicking them. Further, it can steer you away from dangerous websites and block malware and phishing sites if you accidentally click on a malicious link. And overall, strong virus and malware protection can further block any attacks on your devices. Be sure to protect your smartphones in addition to your computers and laptops as well, particularly given all the sensitive things we do on them, like banking, shopping, and booking rides and travel. 

What is phishing? Now you know, and how you can avoid it. 

Once phishing attacks were largely the domain of bogus emails, yet now they’ve spread to texts, social media, and messaging apps—anywhere a scammer can send a fraudulent message while posing as a reputable source. 

Scammers count on you taking the bait, the immediate feelings of fear or concern that there’s a problem with your taxes or one of your accounts. They also prey on scarcity, like during the holidays where people search for great deals on gifts and have plenty of packages on the move. With a critical eye, you can often spot those scams. Sometimes, a pause and a little thought is all it takes. And in the cases where a particularly cagey attack makes its way through, online protection software can warn you that the link you’re about to click is indeed a trap.  

Taken all together, you have plenty of ways you can beat scammers at their game. 

The post How to Protect Yourself From Phishing Scams appeared first on McAfee Blog.

When I started my job as Cybermum – over 10 years ago – it was quite common to strategise ways to prevent your private information appearing online. But those days have long gone. Unless you have been living off the grid and opted out of life completely, having an online presence is now essential. Whether you’re paying bills, booking appointments or renewing your insurance premiums, many companies have made it almost impossible to conduct your business in person, forcing even the most reluctant of us online. 

Now, many of us consider ourselves to be proactive in managing just what we share online by using VPNs, not always setting up accounts with online stores and ensuring our social media privacy settings are nice and tight. But unfortunately, managing your privacy online is more complicated than that. In fact, most of us maybe sharing our private information online every day without even knowing. So, in the spirit of keeping you safe – here are three different areas that I suggest you focus on to ensure you know exactly where you are sharing your private information 

1. Your Everyday Browsing 

Every time you visit an online site, send an email, search for information or basically do anything online, multiple parties collect this information. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP), Wi-Fi network administrator, operating system e.g. Windows or iOS, search engine plus the websites and apps you use will all keep a record of what’s you’re up to – even if you are in Incognito Mode! 

This information is often gathered using cookies – small files that are placed on your device by the website that you visit. These are created whenever you visit a website, and they contain data about your visit. Some websites are required by law to advise you if and when they use cookies but if you choose to reject cookies, your browsing experience can become really clunky. 

What each of these parties does with your private information varies. Your ISP, for example, can easily put together a pretty accurate profile based on your searching, location and downloads and link this to your IP (unique) address. This data can be held for years – subject to your country’s laws and could potentially be used for surveillance, policing and even advertising.  

Now I appreciate that my ISP is required to collect information for the greater good but I am far less comfortable when search engines, websites and apps collect my private data. Since the Cambridge Analytica Scandal of 2018, the industry has definitely had a shake-up however this can still be a risky business.  

How To Stay Safe 

• Consider using a VPN to ensure the private information you share online is encrypted and protected. 
• Refrain from setting up accounts on every website you visit. Buy items as a guest to avoid creating login details. 
• Consider a search engine that doesn’t collect and store your information. And there are loads of more ‘privacy focussed’ options to choose from. Check out DuckDuckGo – a website that doesn’t profile users or track or sell your information to third parties.  
• Never download apps from unknown sources. They may be designed to mine your personal information. Only download apps from reputable sources e.g. App Store for Apple or the Google Play store for Android devices.  
• Always read reviews to see if anyone has had a problem with an app and always check the fine print before you download.

2. Adware 

You know those annoying pop-up adds that just randomly appear on your devices? Well – that’s adware, software that is designed to generate revenue through advertisements. Many of us download it without knowing – you may have downloaded a free program or app without realising it contained bonus adware software. Alternatively, hackers can insert it into your system by exploiting a vulnerability in your software – that’s why you need to keep all your software updated! 

And while those pop-ups can be super irritating what you really need to worry about is that adware can compromise your online privacy. Adware is designed to track your search and browsing history so it can display ads that are most relevant to you. And once the adware developer has your location and browser history, they are likely to sell this info to a third party, making themselves a nice, tidy profit – all without you even knowing!! 

How To Stay Safe 

• Use a super-duper internet security software like McAfee’s Total Protection that will identify and remove adware.  
• Keep your software and operating systems updates to prevent hackers from introducing adware into your system. 
• Phishing emails are a renowned source of adware links – never open links in an email if you aren’t 100% sure it’s safe. 

3. AutoFill 

When I first discovered autofill, I was hooked! No need to tediously enter your name, address, telephone number- even credit card – every time you need it! How good?? But I have since learnt that having autofill enabled on your computer means your personal information is at risk of being hacked. Cybercrims have mastered the art of capturing our credentials by tricking browsers to share our personal details and here’s how: unsuspecting people are lured to a compromised website that has an invisible form. Autofill identifies that there is a form on the site and then gives up your private information allowing the hacker to collect your credentials. 

My Top Tips 

• Disable auto-fill – yes it’s convenient but it’s just too risky. Here’s some advice on how to make that happen. 
• Use a Safe Search service to ensure you don’t get involved in fraudulent websites. Check out McAfee’s WebAdvisor – it’s free! 

Not sure whether it’s worth the effort? Well, let me make it simple – if you want to lock down your online identity to ensure your financial health and reputation aren’t compromised then you need to do something very soon! Imagine losing your hard-earned savings or having your Instagram account hacked and your reputation compromised? Not fun at all – so it’s time to take action, my friends. 

Stay Safe 

Alex 

The post How You May be Sharing Private Information Online Without Even Knowing appeared first on McAfee Blog.

So, can Android phones get viruses and malware? The answer is yes, and likewise you can do several things to spot and remove them from your phone. 

A couple things make Android phones attractive to cyber criminals and scammers. First, they make up about half of all smartphones in the U.S. and roughly 71% worldwide. Second, while its operating system gives users the flexibility to install apps from multiple apps markets, it also makes the operating system more vulnerable to tampering by bad actors. Also, Android has a more fragmented ecosystem with multiple device manufacturers and different versions of the operating system. As a result, each may have different security updates, and consistency will vary depending on the carrier or manufacturer, which can make Android phones more vulnerable to threats. 

So, just like computers and laptops, Android phones are susceptible to attack. And when you consider how much of our lives we keep on our phones, the importance of protecting them can’t be overstated. Steps truly are called for. With a look at how viruses and malware end up on Androids, you’ll see that you have several ways of keeping you and your phone safe. 

The top culprit: Malicious Android apps 

When it comes to viruses and malware on Android phones, malicious apps are often to blame. They’ll disguise themselves in many ways, such as utility apps, wallpaper apps, games, photo editors, and so on. Once installed, they’ll unleash their payload, which can take several forms: 

• Adware that floods your phone with pop-ups and clicker malware that simulates clicking on ads, which generates ad revenue for views and clicks on ads—and which can steal personal information as well.  
• Spyware that tracks your activity and can potentially harvest personal information like usernames and passwords. 
• Billing and subscription fraud, which uses several types of tricks to overcharge for services or subscribe to other services that you don’t want. In some cases, an app will offer a free trial and then charge excessive subscription fees after the trial ends.  
• Banking trojans that use sophisticated techniques to skim login credentials or hijack sessions, which then let bad actors steal money from your accounts. 
• CoinStealers and fake wallets can steal your crypto wallet credentials or seed and take control of the funds. 
• Ransomware and phone locker attacks, while less common, lock away personal info and files on the phone then demand payment for them to be released (payment being no guarantee that the hacker will actually unlock the phone). 

Google Play does its part to keep its virtual shelves free of malware-laden apps with a thorough submission process as reported by Google and through its App Defense Alliance that shares intelligence across a network of partners, of which we’re a proud member. Further, users also have the option of running Play Protect to check apps for safety before they’re downloaded.  

Yet, bad actors find ways to sneak malware into the store. Sometimes they upload an app that’s initially clean and then push the malware to users as part of an update. Other times, they’ll embed the malicious code so that it only triggers once it’s run in certain countries. They will also encrypt malicious code in the app that they submit, which can make it difficult for reviewers to sniff out.  

Beyond Google Play, Android allows users to download apps from third-party app stores, which may or may not have a thorough app submission process in place. Moreover, some third-party app stores are actually fronts for organized cybercrime gangs, built specifically to distribute malware.  

How do I know if my Android phone has a virus or is infected?  

You might spot the signs rather quickly. Sometimes, you might not. Some malware can make your phone run poorly, which may indicate a technical issue, yet it can also be a symptom of a hacked phone. Others work quietly in the background without you knowing it. Either way, both cases provide good reasons to run regular scans on your phone. 

Let’s look at some possible signs: 

Sluggish performance, battery drain, and a hot phone  

Malware has a way of taking up resources and eating up battery life as it furiously does its work in the background. For example, adware or clicker malware can hijack your phone and tap the central processing unit to run the complex calculations needed to mine cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, thus putting high stress on your device. In a way, it’s like having a second person using your phone at the same time as you are. This can make your phone hot to the touch, like it’s been sitting in the sun, because the stress malware puts on your phone could cause it to overheat. 

Popup ads suddenly appear on your phone.  

Adware is annoying as it sounds, and potentially even more malicious in nature. If popup ads suddenly pepper your phone, it may be malware that distributes ads without your consent, which can generate revenue for rogue developers (they can get paid per view and per click). Worse yet, adware can also collect personal information and browsing history from your phone, which bad actors can then sell—a major invasion of your privacy.    

Mysterious apps, calls, calendar events or texts crop up in your history.  

A potential telltale sign that your phone has been compromised is the appearance of new apps that you didn’t download, along with spikes in data usage that you can’t account for. Likewise, if you see calls in your phone’s history that you didn’t make, that’s a warning as well.  

You run out of data or see unknown charges appear on your bill.  

Like an overdraft statement or seeing a suspicious charge your bank statement, this is a possible sign of malware installed on your device and is using it to perform subscriptions scam or premium SMS messages to unsolicited services. 

How to avoid malware and viruses on your Android phone 

Broadly, you can take two big steps toward keeping you and your phone safer from attack. The first is to keep a critical eye open as you use your phone. Malware authors rely on us to trust what we see a little too quickly, such as when it comes time to download that new app or tap on a link in a phishing email that looks legitimate, yet most certainly isn’t upon closer inspection. Slow down and scrutinize what you see. If something seems fishy, don’t tap or interact with it. 

The second big step is to use online protection software on your Android phone. In addition to providing strong antivirus protection and removal, it has further features that protect you against identity theft, online scams, and other mobile threats—including credit card and bank fraud, malicious texts, sketchy links, and bogus QR codes.  

With that, here are a few more steps you can take: 

• Update your phone’s operating system. Along with installing security software, keeping your phone’s operating system up to date can greatly improve your security. Updates can fix vulnerabilities that hackers rely on to pull off their malware-based attacks. It’s another tried and true method of keeping yourself safe—and for keeping your phone running great too. 
• Avoid third-party app stores. As mentioned above, Google Play has measures in place to review and vet apps to help ensure that they are safe and secure. Third-party sites may very well not, and they may intentionally host malicious apps as part of a front. Further, Google is quick to remove malicious apps from their store once discovered, making shopping there safer still. 
• Review apps carefully. Check out the developer—have they published several other apps with many downloads and good reviews? A legit app typically has quite a few reviews, whereas malicious apps may have only a handful of (phony) five-star reviews. Lastly, look for typos and poor grammar in both the app description and screenshots. They could be a sign that a hacker slapped the app together and quickly deployed it. 
• Go with a strong recommendation. Yet better than combing through user reviews yourself is getting a recommendation from a trusted source, like a well-known publication or from app store editors themselves. In this case, much of the vetting work has been done for you by an established reviewer. A quick online search like “best fitness apps” or “best apps for travelers” should turn up articles from legitimate sites that can suggest good options and describe them in detail before you download. 

• Keep an eye on app permissions. Another way hackers weasel their way into your device is by getting permissions to access things like your location, contacts, and photos—and they’ll use malicious apps to do it. If an app asks for way more than you bargained for, like a simple game wanting access to your camera or microphone, it may be a scam. Delete the app.  

Stay on guard against mobile malware 

Scammers have put Android phones in their crosshairs. And for some time now. While phishing emails and smishing texts with sketchy links persists as avenues of attack, a popular form of attack comes by way of malicious app downloads. One reason why is that malicious apps disguise themselves so well, as a utility or game you really want on your phone. You’re more apt to tap “Install” when you’re actively shopping for an app than to tap on a link in an unsolicited email or text. 

Yet as with so many of today’s online attacks, a combination of good sense and strong online protection software can prevent viruses and malware from ending up on your phone. Slowing down and putting preventative measures in place goes a long way toward keeping what’s arguably your most important device far more secure. 

The post How to Remove Viruses from Your Android Phone appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Throw open the windows and let in some fresh air. It’s time for spring cleaning.

And that goes for your digital stuff too.

Whether it’s indeed spring where you are or not, you can give your devices, apps, and online accounts a good decluttering. Now’s the time. Cleaning them up can protect your privacy and your identity because when there’s less lying about, there’s less for hackers to scoop up and exploit.

The reality is that we accumulate plenty of digital clutter that needs cleaning up from time to time. Think about it:

• Bunches of one-off accounts at online stores we won’t frequent again.
• Membership in messages board or forums you no longer drop in on.
• Plenty of outdated apps and programs that are still sitting on your devices.
• Aging files that are no longer relevant, like spreadsheets and records from years ago.
• And photos—oh, photos! We have plenty of those, right?

Seven steps for digital spring cleaning

Together, these things take up space on your devices and, in some cases, can open you up to security hazards. Let’s take a look at how you can clean up in a few steps.

1. Review your accounts and delete the ones you don’t use. Look through your bookmarks, your password manager, or the other places where you store your passwords and usernames. Review the sites and services associated with them critically. If you haven’t used an account in some time, log in one last time, remove all personal info, and deactivate it.

Doing so can keep your email address, usernames, and passwords out of unnecessary circulation. Major breaches like this one happen with unfortunate regularity, and the sad thing is that you may not even be aware that a site you’ve used has been hit. Meanwhile, your name, password, and info associated with that account (such as your credit card) are in the hands of hackers. Limit your exposure. Close those old accounts.

2. Get organized, and safer too, with a password manager. While creating strong, unique passwords for each of our accounts is a must nowadays, it can be quite the feat, given all of the accounts in our lives. Here’s where a password manager comes in. It can create those strong, unique passwords for you. Not only that, but it also stores your passwords on secure servers, away from hackers and thieves.

Along those lines, never store your passwords on your computer or device, like a text document or spreadsheet. Should your device ever get compromised, lost, or stolen, having passwords stored on them are like handing over the keys to your digital life.

3. Clean your PC to improve your performance (and your security). Let’s face it, so many of us are so busy with the day-to-day that cleaning up our computers and laptops is way down the list. However, doing so once a month can keep our devices running stronger for longer and even give you that “new computer feeling,” particularly if you haven’t cleaned it up for some time. Check out our guide for improving PC performance. We will walk you through some straightforward steps that can make a marked difference.

Moreover, part of this process should entail bolstering your operating system and apps with the latest updates. Such updates can not only improve speed and functionality, but they also often include security upgrades as well that can make you safer in the long run. If your operating system and apps feature automatic updates, enable them, and they’ll do the work for you.

4. Organize and store your photos. Photos. Now there’s a topic all unto itself. Here’s the thing: Estimates show that worldwide we took somewhere around 1.2 trillion photos. And you certainly have your share.

However, your photos may be just sitting there, taking up storage space on your computer or phone, instead of becoming something special like an album, greeting cards, a wall hanging, or popping them into a digital picture frame for your kitchen or living room. And this is where a little spring cleaning can be a bit of fun. For tips on cleaning up your photos, backing them up, and making something special with them.

5. Delete old apps and the data associated with them. Let’s say you have a couple of apps on your phone for tracking your walks, runs, and exercise. You’ve since stopped using one altogether. Go ahead and delete the old one. But before you do, go in and delete your account associated with the app to ensure that any data stored off your phone, along with your password and user id are deleted as well.

For your computers and laptops, follow the same procedure, recognizing that they also may have account data stored elsewhere other than on your device.

In short, many apps today store information that’s stored and maintained by the app provider. Make sure you close your accounts so that data and information is taken out of circulation as well.

6. Shred your old files and encrypt the important files you’re holding on to. This bit of advice calls for using comprehensive security software on your devices. In addition to protecting you from viruses, malware, and other cyberattacks on your privacy and identity, it can help you protect your sensitive information as well. Such security software can offer:

• File encryption, which renders your most sensitive files into digital gibberish without the encryption key to translate them back.
• A digital file shredder that permanently deletes old files from your computer (simply dropping them into the desktop trashcan doesn’t do that—those files can be easily recovered).
• Identity theft protection monitors the dark web for your personal info that might have been leaked online and immediately alerts you if you might be at risk of fraud.

7. Throwing away old computers and tech—dispose of them properly. When it comes time to say goodbye to an old friend, whether that’s a computer, laptop, phone, or tablet, do so in a way that’s friendly to the environment and your security.

Consider this … what’s on that old hard drive of yours? That old computer may contain loads of precious personal and financial info on it. The same goes for your tablets and phones. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers some straightforward advice in their article about protecting your data before you get rid of your computer. You don’t want those old tax returns ending up in the trash unprotected.

When it comes time for disposal, you have a few options:

• Look into the e-waste disposal options in your community. There are services that will dispose of and recycle old technology while doing it in a secure manner.
• Some mobile carriers have turn-in programs that will not only dispose of your tech properly, but they’ll give you a financial incentive too—such as money towards a new device.
• Lastly, consider the option of reusing the device. There are opportunities to pass it along to a family member or even donate old devices too. Your old tech may be a game-changer for someone else. Again, just be sure to protect that old data!

As with any spring cleaning, you’ll be glad you did it

Enjoying the benefits of your work—that’s what spring cleaning is all about, right? With this little list, you can end up with a digital life that’s safer and faster than before.

The post Digital Spring Cleaning: Seven Steps for Faster, Safer Devices appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Who else loves tax season besides accountants? Scammers. 

It’s high time of year for online risks here in the U.S. with the onset of tax season, where scammers unleash all manner of scams aimed at taxpayers. The complexity, and even uncertainty, of filing a proper tax return can stir up anxieties like, Have I filed correctly, Did I claim the right deductions, Will I get audited, and Will I get stung with a tax penalty are just a few—and these are the very same anxieties that criminals use as the cornerstone of their attacks.   

Yet like so many scams, tax scams give off telltale signs that they’re indeed not on the up-and-up. You have ways you can spot one before you get caught up in one. 

Scammers prey on the uncertainty of tax season 

In all, we’ve learned to watch our step with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), so much so that receiving a notification from the IRS can feel like an unwanted surprise. Uh oh, did I do something wrong? However, in reality, less than 2% of returns get audited and most discrepancies or adjustments can get handled easily if addressed promptly. 

Still, that wariness of the IRS makes for ripe pickings when it comes to hackers, who prey on people’s fear of audits and penalties. Common scams include email phishing attacks, phone calls from crooks posing as IRS agents, texts claiming there’s a problem with our tax software, and even robocalls that threaten jail time for unpaid back taxes. What’s more, fraudsters can take things a step further by committing identity theft and then filing tax claims in other people’s names. 

With that, let’s dig into a list of the top scams winding up on our screens and phones during tax time.  

Tax scams to look out for 

This IRS Dirty Dozen: Top tax-season scams 

Straight from the authority itself, the IRS publishes its Dirty Dozen, an annual list of the top tax season scams. Year-over-year, many of the same scams make the list, yet new ones continue to crop up as scammers try to take advantage of current events. A couple recent examples include email phishing scams centered around Employee Retention Credits, pandemic relief checks, and federal stimulus checks. Additionally, the IRS has warned filers about disinformation that circulates on social media, such as bogus advice that urges filers to alter their W-2 figures for a better refund. With new scams entering the mix every tax season, the Dirty Dozen offers plenty of good advice that can help you steer clear of scams.  

Robocalls and other phone scams 

We all know the annoyance of spammy phone calls, whether they’re for phony car warranties, tech support services, or debt collection agencies. During this time of year, you can add phony IRS agents and financial service providers to the list.  

The stories that scammers will tell will vary, but they often share common themes: 

• The IRS wants to provide you with a refund, yet they need your personal and financial account information before they pay you. 
• You owe back taxes! Pay the IRS now with a money order or gift cards, otherwise you’re subject to immediate arrest! 
• A financial services company offers to file your taxes on your behalf, all you need to do is provide them with your tax ID or Social Security number—along with other personal and financial information. 

Another thing they have in common: they each outright ask for money, personal information, and sometimes a combination of both. All of which is an indication of a scam.  

For the record, per the IRS, it does not: 

• Call to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method such as a prepaid debit card, gift card, or wire transfer.  
• Demand that you pay taxes without the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe. You should also be advised of your rights as a taxpayer. 
• Threaten to bring in local police, immigration officers, or other law enforcement to have you arrested for not paying.  

Also, per the IRS, they cannot revoke your driver’s license, business license, or immigration status. As noted above, scammers will often weave these threats into their stories. Those threats are entirely empty. 

What will the IRS do? Generally, the IRS will first mail a notice to any taxpayer who owes taxes. In some instances, IRS collection employees may make an unannounced visit to your home and properly identify themselves with IRS-issued credentials and a federal ID card. In all cases, the revenue officer will only request required payments by cash, check, certified funds, or money order payable to “United States Treasury.” 

As for scam calls that pose as financial services companies or tax preparers, ignore them. If you’re planning to work with a tax pro, do your research and work with a legitimate, accredited individual or organization. The IRS has a great resource that can get you started on your search with its “Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers.” There you can get a list of qualified tax preparers that are verified by the IRS, which you can narrow down based on their accreditations and distance from your zip code.  

Messages by text or social media 

One way you can be sure that someone other than the IRS has reached you is if they contact you by text, messaging app, or social media. The IRS will not contact you in any of these ways. Ignore any such messages, and if your app or platform allows you to report messages or accounts as spam, do so. You can often do it with a simple click or tap. 

Another increasingly popular scam on phones is the bogus account alert. The scammer may send a message that says Your account is on hold, or something like We’ve detected unusual activity. During most of the year, scammers will use these messages to pose as online payment platforms, banks, credit card companies, online stores, and streaming services.  

Now during tax season, they’ll masquerade as IRS agents or popular tax software companies. Even though the names change, the game remains the same. The text or message will serve up a link so you can “correct the situation,” one that leads to a site that could steal your personal information or otherwise trick you into installing malware on your phone. 

As always, don’t click these links. Report them if you can. 

Phishing emails 

Phishing emails pull many of the same tricks that calls, texts, and direct messages do—you’ll simply find them in your inbox instead. The same rules for avoiding other IRS scams apply here. First, note that the IRS will never initiate contact with you via email. Nor will they send you emails about your tax refund or any other sensitive information. 

In the past, the IRS has reported that phishing emails often send their victims to lookalike IRS sites that can appear quite convincing. There, victims either receive a prompt to enter their personal and financial information or to download a file that’s laden with malware. Other emails may include attachments, which may be loaded with malware as well. 

Delete any such emails you receive. And if you have any concerns, contact your tax professional or the IRS directly. Also, the IRS asks people who receive scam emails to notify them at phishing@irs.gov. This helps the IRS track and prosecute scammers. 

Identity theft and stolen refunds 

Imagine filing your return only to find out it’s already been filed.  

A far more serious form of tax-related crime is identity theft, where a scammer uses the victim’s personal information and Social Security number to file a return in the victim’s name—and claim the refund. One particularly painful aspect of identity theft and taxes is that victims often find out only after it occurs or when it’s well underway. For example: 

• You can’t file a return because a duplicate Social Security number has already filed one. 
• You receive correspondence from the IRS asking a question about a return that you did not file, that you owe additional tax, have had a refund offset, or that you have collections actions against you for a return you did not file. 
• You get a notice that an IRS online account has been created in your name, or that your existing account has been accessed or disabled by someone other than you. 

Other signs are related to employment, such as getting assigned an Employer Identification Number even though you didn’t request one, discovering that the IRS shows you received income from an employer you didn’t work for, or finding out that someone has claimed unemployment benefits in your name. Once again, both are signs of full-on identity theft where someone has assumed your identity. 

The IRS states that you should always respond to any IRS notice, particularly if you believe it is in error. If you’ve already contacted the IRS about an identity theft issue, you can reach them at 800-908-4490 for further assistance. 

Understand that if this form of identity theft occurs to you, it’s highly likely that the scammer has your Social Security number. Report that right away at https://www.ssa.gov/number-card/report-stolen-number if you think your number is being used by someone else.  

Your Social Security number ranks at the very top of your most valuable personal information. It unlocks everything from driver’s licenses, photo identification, employment, insurance claims, and of course taxes. Act immediately if you think it’s been compromised.  

Six ways you can protect yourself from tax fraud 

1) File your tax return A.S.A.P. 

One way to protect yourself from an identity thief from claiming a return in your name is to file yours before they do. As mentioned, many victims of identity theft find out they’ve been scammed when they receive an IRS notification that their tax claim has already been filed. Simply put, file early. 

2) Get an IRS PIN. 

Another way you can help prevent someone from filing a return in your name is to request a six-digit Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN). Once you receive am IP PIN, the IRS will use it to verify your identity when you file by paper or electronically. It’s good for one calendar year, and you can generate a new one each year for your account. You can request an IP PIN at: https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/get-an-identity-protection-pin.  

Also be aware that scammers want your IP PIN as well. Phone calls, emails, or texts asking for it are scams. Outside of including it when filing your return, the IRS will never ask for it. If you are working with a tax professional, only provide it when it comes time to file. 

3) Monitor your credit and identity. 

Keeping tabs on your credit report and knowing if your personal information has been compromised in some way can help prevent tax fraud. Together, they can let you know if someone has stolen your identity or if you have personal info on the dark web that could lead to identity theft. 

Our credit monitoring service can keep an eye on changes to your credit score, report, and accounts with timely notifications and guidance so you can take action to tackle identity theft. 

Our identity monitoring service checks the dark web for your personal info, including email, government IDs, credit card and bank account info, and more—then provides alerts if your data is found on the dark web, an average of 10 months ahead of similar services.​ 

4) Get identity theft protection. 

If you fall victim to identity theft, having identity theft protection in place can provide significant relief, both financially and in terms of recovery. Our identity theft coverage & restoration support includes $1 million in funds if it’s determined that you’re a victim, which covers lawyer’s fees, travel expenses, and stolen funds reimbursement—while licensed recovery experts can help you repair your credit and identity. Considering the potential costs in both time and money, identity theft protection can speed and ease recovery. 

5) Remove your personal information from sketchy data broker sites. 

How’d that scammer get your phone number or email address anyway? Chances are, they pulled that information off a data broker site. Data brokers buy, collect, and sell detailed personal information, which they compile from several public and private sources, such as local, state, and federal records, plus third parties like supermarket shopper’s cards and mobile apps that share and sell user data. Moreover, they’ll sell it to anyone who pays for it, including people who’ll use that information for scams. 

You can help reduce those scam texts and calls by removing your information from those sites. Our Personal Data Cleanup scans some of the riskiest data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info. We also provide guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and, with select plans, even manage the removal for you—while continuing to scan those sites in case your information reappears. 

6) Further protect yourself from online scams with online protection software. 

Comprehensive online protection software can help you on a number of counts. It warns you of suspicious links in emails and texts that could send you to malicious sites. It can further protect you from ransomware attacks, which IRS has also listed amongst its Dirty Dozen. And you can use it to monitor all your transactions across all your financial accounts in one place, which can spot any questionable activity. In all, tax time or otherwise, online protection software is always a strong security move. 

Stay Updated  

A little stress and uncertainty can enter the picture during tax season, and scammers know it. In fact, they prey upon it. They concoct their scams around those feelings, hoping that you’ll take the bait and act quickly without taking the time to scrutinize what they’re saying and what they’re really asking you to do.  

Keeping up to date on what the latest scams are, having a good sense of which ones get recycled every year, and putting protections in place can help you avoid getting stung by a scam at tax season.  

For yet more information, visit the IRS Tax Scam and Consumer Alert site at: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-scams-consumer-alerts  

The post How to Protect Yourself Against Tax Scams appeared first on McAfee Blog.

From Workshops to Leader Panels: A Recap of Women’s History Month at McAfee

March is Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, and at McAfee, we partnered with McAfee Women in Cyber Security (WISE) Community to organize opportunities to learn from each other, find inspiration in shared experiences, and forge new connections.

Speaker events throughout the month opened the door for discussions about inclusion and equity. With awareness, we can make a difference. Check out what we’ve been up to.

We joined a panel discussion: A Leader’s Lens on Equity

Team McAfee joined a discussion with McAfee leaders. The conversation focused on the challenges women often face and issues of equity. Panelists shared their personal experiences and learning, and we explored how we can embrace and advance equity in our workplace. We discussed what it means to be truly inclusive and how we can continuously improve — we all have a part to play.

Here are just a few snippets from the panelists on how we can embrace equity:

	“Embracing equity requires action – be an ally and give everyone at the table a voice.” ​​​​​​​- Jennifer Biry, Chief Financial Officer
	“We all have a responsibility to identify inequality. Speak up and give everyone a chance to be successful.” – Vonny Gamot, VP of Sales​​​​​​​
	“It takes all of us. Be aware of behaviors that prevent voices from being heard and then address it with honestly.” – Steve Grobman, Chief Technology Officer
	“Not treating people equitably impacts people at their core.” – Tina Muller, VP of Operations and Chief of Staff
	“If we are to make dent in equity, it’s up to men and women to clear a path.” – Jeff Ryan, Chief People Officer
	“Our job doesn’t end with opportunities. It extends to providing the right support and tools.” – Arati Sankhe, ​​​​​​​Sr Dir, Software Engineering

We listened to Jacqueline Tame’s Story on redefining roles and careers

Jacqueline Tame, Director of Government Affairs for PsiQuantum and senior advisor to the Chief Digital and AI Officer of the U.S. Department of Defense, joined Team McAfee to round-up the month. Jacqueline shared her personal and professional challenges, how she overcame them, and how they shaped her into the woman and professional she is today.

We tuned into a workshop rich with insights

Binda Bhati, a human and organizational psychologist with over 20 years of experience, led a workshop about unconscious minimizers. She provided amazing insights on how women can identify and redefine their identities, combat imposter syndrome, and be more confident in their abilities.

We continue to advance equity and inclusion

McAfee continues to celebrate our women and reinforce our company-wide commitment of fostering an inclusive place to work beyond Women’s History Month. We’re proud of our record of supporting women in the workplace — including four years of pay parity — and we’ll continue to do our part to create a culture where everyone feels valued and respected.

The post From Workshops to Leader Panels: A Recap of Women’s History Month at McAfee appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Authored By Anandeshwar Unnikrishnan,Sakshi Jaiswal,Anuradha M 

McAfee Labs has recently observed a new Malware campaign which used malicious OneNote documents to entice users to click on an embedded file to download and execute the Qakbot trojan. 

OneNote is a Microsoft digital notebook application that can be downloaded for free. It is a note-taking app that allows collaboration across organizations while enabling users to embed files and other artifacts. It is installed by default in Microsoft Office 2021 and Microsoft 365.   

Malicious Actors are always trying to find new ways in to infect their victims. Such as their shift to LNK files after Microsoft introduced a policy change disabled office macros by default. Due to a feature that allows users to attach files to OneNote documents it makes them a good alternative to LNK files as distribution vehicle to deploy their malware. This blog contains analysis on how OneNote documents are used malicious and two specific campaigns that made use of OneNote documents to download and execute the Qakbot malware.  

OneNote Campaigns in the wild 

Figure 1  shows the geo wise distribution of McAfee customers detecting malicious OneNote files. 

 Based on the telemetry from our endpoints we have identified the following threat families deployed through OneNote documents: 

• Iceid 
• Qakbot
• RedLine
• AsyncRat
• Remcos
• AgentTesla
• QuasarRAT
• XWORM
• Netwire
• Formbook
• Doubleback 

Overview Of Malicious OneNote Documents 

A holistic view of the phishing campaigns that weaponize OneNote document is shown in Figure 2 below.  The malicious document is delivered in either zip files or ISO images to the target through phishing emails. We have observed that most of the malicious documents either have Windows batch script that invokes Powershell for dropping the malware on the system or Visual Basic scripts that does the same.

The generic theme of the email is invoice or legal related. These types of themes are more likely to be opened by the vicim. An example email body and attachment is shown in Figure 3 and 4. 

A Deep Dive into OneNote File Format 

File Header 

To understand how the data is laid out in the file, we need to examine it at byte level. Taking a close look at OneNote document gives us an interesting observation as its magic bytes for the header is not a trivial one. Figure 5 shows the first 16 bytes of the document binary. 

The first 16 bytes need to be interpreted as GUID value {7B5C52E4-D88C-4DA7-AEB1-5378D02996D3}. We can use the official documentation for OneNote specification to make sense of all the bytes and its structuring. Figure 6 shows header information taken from the OneNote specification document. 

The Data Stream in OneNote, Say Hello To FileDataStoreObject 

To find the embedded data in a OneNote document, we need to learn more about the FileDataStoreObject which has a GUID value of {BDE316E7-2665-4511-A4C4-8D4D0B7A9EAC}. The structure that holds the data is shown below: 

• guidHeader (16 bytes) 
• Size: 16 bytes 
• Value: {BDE316E7-2665-4511-A4C4-8D4D0B7A9EAC} 
• cbLength 
• Size: 8 bytes 
• Value: Size of the data 
• unused 
• Size: 4 bytes 
• reserved 
• Size: 8 bytes 
• FileData 
• Size: Variable 
• guidFooter 
• Size: 16 bytes 
• Value: {71FBA722-0F79-4A0B-BB13-899256426B24} 

The FileData member of the FileDataStoreObject is the key member that holds the embedded data in the OneNote document. The size can be retrieved from the cbLength member. 

Figure 7 shows the “on disk” representation of the FileDataStoreObject  This is taken from a malicious OneNote document used to spread the Qakbot payload. The guidHeader for the data object is highlighted in yellow and the data is shown in red. As it is evident from the image the data represents a text file which is a script to launch PowerShell.  

For more information on the OneNote specification, go to reference section  

Artifact Extraction  

Now we have an idea of what the data object is, with this knowledge we can automate the process of extracting embedded artifacts for further analysis from the OneNote document by following the below algorithm. 

• Search for FileDataStoreObject GUID in the binary. 
• Interpret the FileDataStoreObject structure  
• Retrieve cbLength member (size of the data represented by FileDataStoreObject) 
• Read N bytes (cbLength) after Reserved 8 bytes in FileDataStoreObject. 
• Dump the bytes read on to disk 
• Repeat above steps for every FileDataStoreObject present in the binary

Embedded Executable Objects In OneNote  

Execution Of Embedded Entities  

Looking at the runtime characteristics of OneNote Desktop application we have observed that when an embedded file gets executed by the user, it is stored temporarily in the OneNote directory in the User’s Temp location. Each directory with GUID values represents a different document opened in the OneNote application. 

By analyzing numerous malicious documents, we have been able to create a “test” OneNote document that executes a batch file that contains the “whoami” command. The image in Figure  9 show the batch file being created in the user’s temp location. 

Qakbot Campaign 1: 

This section contains specific details on a Qakbot campaign. In campaign 1, the malware author used phishing emails to deliver malicious OneNote document either as attachment or a URL link to zip file containing the OneNote document. The OneNote contained aHTA file that once executed would make use of  the curl utility to download Qakbot and then execute it. 

Infection Flow: 

• Spam email delivers a malicious OneNote file as an attachment or a link to a ZIP file that contains a OneNote file. 
• OneNote file contains an embedded HTA  attachment and a fake message to lure users to execute the HTA  file 
• The HTA file uses curl utility to download the Qakbot payload and is executed by rundll32.exe. 

Technical Analysis: 

The OneNote file with the embedded HTA file is shown in the Figure 11. Once this OneNote file is opened, it prompts the user with a fake message to double-click on open to view the attachment. 

Upon clicking the Open button, it drops the HTA file with the name Open.hta to the %temp% Folder and executes it using mshta.exe. 

The HTA file contains obfuscated script as shown below: 

The HTA file is loaded by MSHTA and creates a registry key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ with obfuscated content as shown below: 

• The obfuscated registry is then read by MSHTA and the obfuscated code is de-obfuscated. The code is then initialized to a new function object as shown in Block1. 
• Finally, MSHTA calls this function by passing the malicious URL as a parameter and then deletes the registry key as shown in Block 2.

De-obfuscated content from the HTA file is shown below: 

• Curl is used to download the malicious DLL file in C:\ProgramData Folder with .png extension. The script will then execute the downloaded file with Rundll32.exe with the export function Wind.

• A fake error message is displayed after loading the downloaded payload and MSHTA is terminated.  

Figure 18 shows the process tree of Qakbot: 

IOCs: 

Campaign 2: 

Examining Malicious OneNote Documents 

The OneNote document for campaign 2 is shown in Figure 19. At first glance it it appears that there is a ‘Open’ button embedded within the document. The message above the ‘Open’ button instructs the user to “double click” in order to receive the attachment.

A closer look at the document reveals the graphical elements are all images placed in a layered style by the malicious actor. By moving the icons aside, we can see the malicious batch file which when executed downloads the payload from the Internet and executes on the target system. 

Execution Of Payload Dropper 

Upon execution of the batch file, Powershell will be invoked and it fetch the Qakbot payload from Internet and execute it on the target system. This section will cover details of dropper script used to deploy QakBot. The Figure 21 Show the process tree after the execution of the script and you can see that powershell.exe was launched by cmd.exe and the parent of cmd.exe is onenote.exe. 

The contents of process cmd.exe (7176) are shown below.  

The base64 decoded batch file is shown in Figure 23.  This will use powershell to download the payload and then execute it with rundll32.exe

 IOCS 

Domains: 

starcomputadoras.com 

Conclusion: 

Malware authors are getting more sophisticated when it comes to hiding their payloads. This Blog highlights the recent Qakbot campaign that delivers its payload which uses the OneNote application as a delivery mechanism. McAfee Customers should keep their systems up-to-date and refrain from clicking links and opening attachments in suspicious emails to stay protected. 

 References: 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/office_file_formats/ms-onestore/405b958b-4cb7-4bac-81cc-ce0184249670 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/office_file_formats/ms-onestore/8806fd18-6735-4874-b111-227b83eaac26 

The post The Rising Trend of OneNote Documents for Malware delivery appeared first on McAfee Blog.

As people get into their 70s, they stand to lose more to fraud than any other age group—which makes a strong case for protecting the older people in our lives. 

If you’re looking to protect them online, you have several ways to go about it. Our new McAfee+ Family plans are one way, where two adults and four children get personalized online protection that they can set up and manage on their own. With your McAfee+ Family plan  a simple invitation, you can rest easy that they’re protected against online scams and other threats. 

And threats certainly face us all, and hit older adults hardest. 

In the following table courtesy of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), you can see the risks that adults faced in 2022. While younger victims reported fraud loss at a higher rate, their median losses were typically smaller than the losses of older adults. By the time victims reach their 70s and 80s, the reporting rate dropped, yet the median losses made a significant leap. 

Note that these are reported cases of fraud, and those reported to the FTC. In other words, this represents just a slice of the fraud that occurred in 2022.  

Moreover, as we’ve shared before in articles about elder scams, older adults may be less willing or able to report a scam. The reasons vary. They may not know how they were scammed or they may feel shamed by being scammed—all of which can lead to underreporting. Moreover, not every scam report includes an age range, which leads to further underreporting. 

Yet the case is clear. Scams pose a significant threat to older adults. 

Which online scams are targeting grandparents and older adults? 

Looking further into the FTC data, older adults in the U.S. lost more than $1.6 billion to scams in 2022 across four primary categories: 

• Imposter scams – As the name implies, these involve scammers masquerading as legitimate businesses, government agencies, or even friends and family members. Regardless of the guise, the scammers want the same thing—to steal money and personal information from the victim. To do so, scammers may make phony threats as they pose as credit card agents or tax collectors, or they may pretend to be a friend or grandchild in urgent financial need. In these cases, email and social media account for primary contact methods, and payments usually take the form money orders and gift cards as losses from them are difficult to recover. 

• Online shopping scams – These scams take in victims of all ages. Search and social media ads lead victims to bogus websites that sell unique or hard-to-get items, often at a greatly reduced cost. However, once the scammers receive payment, they’ll either deliver low-quality knockoff goods or no goods at all. In the case of counterfeit goods, these scams may be a front for illegal activity and may exploit child labor as well. In the case of non-delivery, organized cybercrime groups often run these scams, operating them much in the same way a legitimate business sells its goods—with marketing teams, web developers, and processes for receiving payment. In short, they can look and act rather sophisticated. 

• Sweepstakes scams – Tough to win a sweepstakes that you never entered. But that won’t stop scammers from saying you have. Victims will get an email or a direct message in social media saying that they’ve won a prize and that all they need to do it claim it. This is where the scammer will ask the victim to provide something, like personal information because the scammer needs it determine their “eligibility”, or their bank account routing information so that the scammer can “send the winnings.” In some cases, they may outright ask victims for money, like a processing fee or a payout for taxes on the (bogus) winnings. 

• Tech support scams – These scams target older adults several ways, such as through links from unsolicited emails, pop-up ads from risky sites, or by spammy phone calls and texts. Here, the scammer will pose as tech support from a known and reputable brand and inform the victim that they have an urgent issue with their computer or device. While the device is actually in fine working order, the scammer offers to “fix” it for a fee. With permission to fix the device given, the scammer either does nothing or, more maliciously, installs malware like adware or spyware on the otherwise healthy device. 

Helping the grandparents and older adults in your life avoid online scams. 

So many scams fail to pass the sniff test. The moment you scrutinize the incredible offer plastered on that ad or question why a so-called tax collector would hound you on social media, something immediately smells fishy. Yet people don’t always catch that whiff. People of all ages. Not just the elders in our lives.  

One way we can help everyone stay safer online is through conversation. The knowledge that comes from a good, ongoing conversation about life online provides them with one pillar of protection. Talking about how they spend their time online and the types of scams that are out there arms them with the savvy they need to spot a scam. That will help them take that crucial moment when faced with a possible scam, a crucial moment to consider if that ad, email, or direct message is indeed bogus. 

The second pillar comes from comprehensive online protection. Today’s protection goes far beyond antivirus. It protects devices the privacy and the identity of the people using them. In the case of our McAfee+ Family plans, they protect up to six people from viruses, credit card fraud, and identity theft with tailored guidance as they do what they do online. With an elder on your family plan, you can see which devices they’ve installed protection on, so you’ll know they’re protected.  

More specific to some of the scams we talked about, it can help block older adults from accessing messages. Further, it can help prevent scam calls and texts in the first place. Personal Data Cleanup spots and removes their personal info from risky data broker sites that spammers use to find victims. And if their personal information has been compromised, our identity monitoring alerts them if their data is found on the dark web, an average of 10 months ahead of similar services—and get expert guidance about what to do next.​ Our identity theft protection and recovery service  identity and credit if the unexpected happens to them. 

Adding a parent to your family plan. 

Adding someone to your McAfee+ Family plan is practically as simple as typing in an email address.  

Think of it as sending an invitation, one where everyone gets their own personalized protection with their own unique login. This way, each member of the family can set up and manage their own protection for their identity, privacy, computers, and phones.  

With this invitation, they’ll see that it comes from you and that all they need to do to start their protection is to click the link—no extra charges or fees. They’re simply part of your plan now.

From there, they can download their protection, set up their devices, and consult their McAfee Protection Score to see how secure they are. Then simple instructions make it easy to set up and fix gaps to improve their online security so that they’re safer still. 

In all, it’s a highly straightforward process, for you and members of your family. 

Protect your family from scams online with the right plan in place. 

Spending any time online calls for online protection, no matter what age you are. While threats may look different across different age groups, every family member faces them. Another thing everyone has in common is that every family member can protect themselves from threats, far more thoroughly now than before. Comprehensive online protection has evolved far beyond antivirus. It protects the person, which is important because that’s who scammers target. They target people, so they can invade their privacy, steal their personal information, or simply rip them off.  

Put plainly, knowing what today’s scams look like and using comprehensive online protection offer a one-two punch in the defense against online scams. You have several options to get it for the older adults in your life, our new McAfee+ Family plans being one of them. Whichever route you take, putting your family’s protection plan in place will absolutely reduce the chances of someone you love getting stung by a scam. 

The post Protecting Your Parents from Scams with Our New Family Plans appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Who else loves tax season besides accountants? Scammers. 

It’s high time of year for online risks here in the U.S. with the onset of tax season, where scammers unleash all manner of scams aimed at taxpayers. The complexity, and even uncertainty, of filing a proper tax return can stir up anxieties like, Have I filed correctly, Did I claim the right deductions, Will I get audited, and Will I get stung with a tax penalty are just a few—and these are the very same anxieties that criminals use as the cornerstone of their attacks.   

Yet like so many scams, tax scams give off telltale signs that they’re indeed not on the up-and-up. You have ways you can spot one before you get caught up in one. 

Scammers prey on the uncertainty of tax season 

In all, we’ve learned to watch our step with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), so much so that receiving a notification from the IRS can feel like an unwanted surprise. Uh oh, did I do something wrong? However, in reality, less than 2% of returns get audited and most discrepancies or adjustments can get handled easily if addressed promptly. 

Still, that wariness of the IRS makes for ripe pickings when it comes to hackers, who prey on people’s fear of audits and penalties. Common scams include email phishing attacks, phone calls from crooks posing as IRS agents, texts claiming there’s a problem with our tax software, and even robocalls that threaten jail time for unpaid back taxes. What’s more, fraudsters can take things a step further by committing identity theft and then filing tax claims in other people’s names. 

With that, let’s dig into a list of the top scams wind up on our screens and phones during tax time.  

Tax scams to look out for 

This IRS Dirty Dozen: Top tax-season scams 

Straight from the authority itself, the IRS publishes its Dirty Dozen, an annual list of the top tax season scams. Year-over-year, many of the same scams make the list, yet new ones continue to crop up as scammers try to take advantage of current events. A couple recent examples include email phishing scams centered around Employee Retention Credits, pandemic relief checks, and federal stimulus checks. Additionally, the IRS has warned filers about disinformation that circulates on social media, such as bogus advice that urges filers to alter their W-2 figures for a better refund. With new scams entering the mix every tax season, the Dirty Dozen offers plenty of good advice that can help you steer clear of scams.  

Robocalls and other phone scams 

We all know the annoyance of spammy phone calls, whether they’re for phony car warranties, tech support services, or debt collection agencies. During this time of year, you can add phony IRS agents and financial service providers to the list.  

The stories that scammers will tell will vary, but they often share common themes: 

• The IRS wants to provide you with a refund, yet they need your personal and financial account information before they will pay you. 
• You owe back taxes! Pay the IRS now with a money order or gift cards, otherwise you’re subject to immediate arrest! 
• A financial services company offers to file your taxes on your behalf, all you need to do is provide them with your tax ID or Social Security number—along with other personal and financial information. 

Another thing they have in common: they each outright ask for money, personal information, and sometimes a combination of both. All of which is an indication of a scam.  

For the record, per the IRS, it does not: 

• Call to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method such as a prepaid debit card, gift card, or wire transfer.  
• Demand that you pay taxes without the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe. You should also be advised of your rights as a taxpayer. 
• Threaten to bring in local police, immigration officers, or other law-enforcement to have you arrested for not paying.  

Also per the IRS, they cannot revoke your driver’s license, business licenses, or immigration status. As noted above, scammers will often weave these threats into their stories. Those threats are entirely empty. 

What will the IRS do? Generally, the IRS will first mail a notice to any taxpayer who owes taxes. In some instances, IRS collection employees may make an unannounced visit to your home and properly identify themselves with IRS-issued credentials and an federal ID card. In all cases, the revenue officer will only request required payments by cash, check, certified funds, or money order payable to “United States Treasury.” 

As for scam calls that pose as financial services companies or tax preparers, ignore them. If you’re planning to work with a tax pro, do your research and work with a legitimate, accredited individual or organization. The IRS has a great resource that can get you started on your search with its “Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers.” There you can get a list of qualified tax preparers that are verified by the IRS, which you can narrow down based on their accreditations and distance from your zip code.  

Messages by text or social media 

One way you can be sure that someone other than the IRS has reached you is if they contact you by text, messaging app, or social media. The IRS will not contact you in any of these ways. Ignore any such messages, and if your app or platform allows you to report messages or accounts as spam, do so. You can often do it with a simple click or tap. 

Another increasingly popular scam on phones is the bogus account alert. The scammer may send a message that says Your account is on hold, or something like We’ve detected unusual activity. During most of the year, scammers will use these messages to pose as online payment platforms, banks, credit card companies, online stores, and streaming services.  

Now during tax season, they’ll masquerade as IRS agents or popular tax software companies. Even though the names change, the game remains the same. The text or message will serve up a link so you can “correct the situation,” one that leads to a site that could steal your personal information or otherwise trick you into installing malware on your phone. 

As always, don’t click these links. Report them if you can. 

Phishing emails 

Phishing emails pull many of the same tricks that calls, texts, and direct messages do—you’ll simply find them in your inbox instead. The same rules for avoiding other IRS scams apply here. First, note that the IRS will never initiate contact with you via email. Nor will they send you emails about your tax refund or any other sensitive information. 

In the past, the IRS has reported that phishing emails often send their victims to lookalike IRS sites that can appear quite convincing. There, victims either receive a prompt to enter their personal and financial information or to download a file that’s laden with malware. Other emails may include attachments, which may be loaded with malware as well. 

Delete any such emails you receive. And if you have any concerns, contact your tax professional or the IRS directly. Also, the IRS asks people who receive scam emails to notify them at phishing@irs.gov. This helps the IRS track and prosecute scammers. 

Identity theft and stolen refunds 

Imagine filing your return only to find out it’s already been filed.  

A far more serious form of tax-related crime is identity theft, where a scammer uses the victim’s personal information and Social Security number to file a return in the victim’s name—and claim the refund. One particularly painful aspect of identity theft and taxes is that victims often find out only after it occurs or when it’s well underway. For example: 

• You can’t file a return because a duplicate Social Security number has already filed one. 
• You receive correspondence from the IRS asking a question about a return that you did not file, that you owe additional tax, have had a refund offset, or that you have collections actions against you for a return you did not file. 
• You get a notice that an IRS online account has been created in your name, or that your existing account has been accessed or disabled by someone other than you. 

Other signs are related to employment, such as getting assigned an Employer Identification Number even though you didn’t request one, discovering that the IRS shows you received income from an employer you didn’t work for, or finding out that someone has claimed unemployment benefits in your name. Once again, both are signs of full-on identity theft where someone has assumed your identity. 

The IRS states that you should always respond to any IRS notice, particularly if you believe it is in error. If you’ve already contacted the IRS about an identity theft issue, you can reach them at 800-908-4490 for further assistance. 

Understand that if this form of identity theft occurs to you, it’s highly likely that the scammer has your Social Security number. Report that right away at https://www.ssa.gov/number-card/report-stolen-number if you think your number is being used by someone else.  

Your Social Security number ranks at the very top of your most valuable personal information. It unlocks everything from driver’s licenses, photo identification, employment, insurance claims, and of course taxes. Act immediately if you think it’s been compromised.  

Six ways you can protect yourself from tax fraud 

1) File your tax return A.S.A.P. 

One way to protect yourself from an identity thief from claiming a return in your name is to file yours before they do. As mentioned, many victims of identity theft find out they’ve been scammed when they receive an IRS notification that their tax claim has already been filed. Simply put, file early. 

2) Get an IRS PIN. 

Another way you can help prevent someone from filing a return in your name is to request a six-digit Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN). Once you receive am IP PIN, the IRS will use it to verify your identity when you file by paper or electronically. It’s good for one calendar year, and you can generate a new one each year for your account. You can request an IP PIN at: https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/get-an-identity-protection-pin.  

Also be aware that scammers want your IP PIN as well. Phone calls, emails, or texts asking for it are scams. Outside of including it when filing your return, the IRS will never ask for it. If you are working with a tax professional, only provide it when it comes time to file. 

3) Monitor your credit and identity. 

Keeping tabs on your credit report and knowing if your personal information has been compromised in some way can help prevent tax fraud. Together, they can let you know if someone has stolen your identity or if you have personal info on the dark web that could lead to identity theft. 

Our credit monitoring service can keep an eye on changes to your credit score, report, and accounts with timely notifications and guidance so you can take action to tackle identity theft. 

Our identity monitoring service checks the dark web for your personal info, including email, government IDs, credit card and bank account info, and more—then provides alerts if your data is found on the dark web, an average of 10 months ahead of similar services.​ 

4) Get identity theft protection. 

If you fall victim to identity theft, having identity theft protection in place can provide significant relief, both financially and in terms of recovery. Our identity theft coverage & restoration support includes $1 million in funds if it’s determined that you’re a victim, which covers lawyer’s fees, travel expenses, and stolen funds reimbursement—while licensed recovery experts can help you repair your credit and identity. Considering the potential costs in both time and money, identity theft protection can speed and ease recovery. 

5) Remove your personal information from sketchy data broker sites. 

How’d that scammer get your phone number or email address anyway? Chances are, they pulled that information off a data broker site. Data brokers buy, collect, and sell detailed personal information, which they compile from several public and private sources, such as local, state, and federal records, plus third parties like supermarket shopper’s cards and mobile apps that share and sell user data. Moreover, they’ll sell it to anyone who pays for it, including people who’ll use that information for scams. 

You can help reduce those scam texts and calls by removing your information from those sites. Our Personal Data Cleanup scans some of the riskiest data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info. We also provide guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and, with select plans, even manage the removal for you—while continuing to scan those sites in case your information reappears. 

6) Further protect yourself from online scams with online protection software. 

Comprehensive online protection software can help you on a number of counts. It warns you of suspicious links in emails and texts that could send you to malicious sites. It can further protect you from ransomware attacks, which IRS has also listed among its Dirty Dozen. And you can use it to monitor all your transactions across all your financial accounts in one place, which can spot any questionable activity. In all, tax time or otherwise, online protection software is always a strong security move. 

Stay Updated  

A little stress and uncertainty can enter the picture during tax season, and scammers know it. In fact, they prey upon it. They concoct their scams around those feelings, hoping that you’ll take the bait and act quickly without taking the time to scrutinize what they’re saying and what they’re really asking you to do.  

Keeping up to date on what the latest scams are, having a good sense of which ones get recycled every year, and putting protections in place can help you avoid getting stung by a scam at tax season.  

For yet more information, visit the IRS Tax Scam and Consumer Alert site at: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-scams-consumer-alerts  

The post Tax Time is Prime Time for Scammers: How to Stay Safe When Paying Your Taxes to the IRS appeared first on McAfee Blog.

By 2030, experts predict that there will be 5 billion devices connected to 5G.1 For the general population, this connectedness means better access to information, communication with far-flung loved ones, greater convenience in everyday tasks … and more hours devoted to everyone’s favorite pastime: scrolling through funny online videos. 

For cybercriminals, this vast mobile population fills their pool of targets with billions. And criminals are getting better at hiding their schemes, making threats to mobile devices seem nearly invisible. 

When undetected, cybercriminals can help themselves to your personal information or take over your expensive mobile device for their own gains. The best way to combat criminals and protect your mobile device is to know their tricks and adopt excellent online habits to foil their nefarious plots. 

Here are the tips you need to uncover these four hard-to-spot mobile threats. 

1. Spyware

What is it? 

Spyware’s main ability is right in the name: it spies on you. Spyware is a type of malware that lurks in the shadows of your trusted device, collecting information about your browsing habits, personally identifiable information (PII), and more. Some types, called key loggers, can keep track of what you type. The software then sends the details and movements it collects about you to the spying criminal. They can then use this information to steal your passwords and waltz into your online accounts or steal your identity. 

How do I know if my mobile device is affected? 

Malicious downloads are often the origin of spyware getting onto your mobile device. The spyware hides within “free” TV show, movie, or video game online downloads; however, instead of getting the latest episode you’ve been dying to watch, your device gets spyware instead. 

Have you visited risky sites recently? Is your device running slowly, overheating, or suddenly experiencing a shorter-than-usual battery life? One or all of these signs could indicate that your device is working overtime running the spyware and trying to keep up with your everyday use. 

How to avoid it 

Safe downloading habits will go a long way in protecting you from spyware. While streaming from free sites is less expensive than paying a monthly membership to a legitimate streaming service, you may have to pay more in the long run to reverse the damage caused by unknowingly downloading spyware. If you’re unsure if the sites you visit are safe, a safe browsing tool like McAfee WebAdvisor will alert you to untrustworthy sites. 

2. Malicious Apps

What are they? 

Malicious apps are applications that masquerade as legitimate mobile apps but are actually a vessel to download malware onto your mobile device. For example, when Squid Game was all the rage in 2021, 200 apps related to the show popped up on the Google Play store. One of these themed apps claiming to be a wallpaper contained malware.  

How do I know if my mobile device is affected? 

Similar to spyware, a device infected with malware will overheat, load pages slowly despite a solid Wi-Fi connection, and have a short battery life. Also, you may notice that texts are missing or that your contacts are receiving messages from you that you never sent. Finally, your online accounts may have suspicious activity, such as purchases or money transfers you didn’t authorize. 

How to avoid it 

Avoiding malicious apps requires that you do a bit of research before downloading. Even if you’re using an authorized app store, like Google Play or the Apple Store, apps with hidden malware can pass the vetting process. One way to determine if an app is risky is to look at the quality of its reviews and its number of star ratings. Approach an app with less than 100 ratings with caution. Also, read a few of the reviews. Are they vague? Are they written poorly? Cybercriminals may pad their apps with fake reviews, but they’re unlikely to spend too much time writing well-composed comments. Finally, do a background check on the app’s developer listed in the app description. If they have a criminal reputation, a quick search will likely alert you to it. 

Perusing the reviews isn’t a guaranteed way to sniff out a malicious app. In 2020, McAfee discovered that one bad app had more than 7,000 reviews. To help prevent malware from taking hold of your device, consider investing in antivirus software. Antivirus software isn’t just for your desktop. Mobile devices benefit from it, too! McAfee antivirus is compatible with any operating system and offers 24/7 real-time threat protection. 

3. Botnets

What are they? 

A botnet is a vast collection of malware-infected devices controlled by a cybercriminal. The criminal uses their network of bots to proliferate spam or crash servers.  

Malware is a broad term that encompasses dozens of specific strains of malicious software, several of which are capable of recruiting your mobile device to a cybercriminal’s army of bots. Without your knowledge, the criminal can force your phone to message your contact list or divert your device’s computing power to overload a server in a cyberattack.  

How do I know if my mobile device is affected? 

All the telltale signs of malware are applicable here if your phone is part of a botnet. A botnet commander grants themselves the highest admin access to any device they take over. That means you may also see new apps on your home screen that you never downloaded or messages sent by text, email, or social media direct message that you never wrote. 

How to avoid it 

Criminals recruiting devices to their botnet can embed the necessary malware anywhere malware typically lurks: in fake apps, dubious streaming and file-sharing sites, phishing emails, risky links, etc. The best way to avoid becoming a member of a botnet is to watch what you click on, stay away from risky sites, and treat any message from a stranger with suspicion. 

4. Fake Software Updates

What is it? 

Cybercriminals can conceal their malware within fake software updates that look official. Fake updates often pose as Microsoft updates because of the company’s huge user base. Java and Android operating system updates have also been impersonated in the past.  

How do I know if my mobile device is affected? 

The common signs of malware apply to fake software updates too. Also, if a fake update was widespread, you’ll likely receive an official correspondence from the software provider issuing a patch. 

How to avoid it 

The best way to avoid being tricked by a fake update is to enable automatic updates on all your devices. When your devices auto-update, you can ignore any pop-up, email, or text that urges you to click on a link to update. Auto-update is a good practice to adopt anyway, as it ensures that you have the latest software, which often means that it’s the most secure. 

Another excellent habit that’ll prevent you from compromising your device with a fake software update is to always preview where links will take you. You can do this by tapping and holding the link. Check the hyperlink for typos or for pages that direct away from the organization’s official website. 

Protect Your Mobile Device for Better Online Security, Privacy 

Cybercriminals are getting craftier by the day, employing new tools (like ChatGPT) and new strains to trick people and infect mobile devices for their own gains. To safeguard all your devices, consider investing in a solution that’ll protect you from every angle. McAfee+ Ultimate is the all-in-one device, privacy, and security service that helps you confidently live your best online life. The proactive monitoring features stop threats in their tracks, saving you a massive headache and guarding your finances and PII. If any online scheme does compromise your identity, the Family Plan offers up to $2 million in identity theft restoration. 

Mobile malware doesn’t always scream “suspicious!” As long as you arm yourself with the right tools, practice good habits, and keep your eyes peeled, you should be able to spot malicious software. 

1GSMA, “The Mobile Economy” 

The post 4 Mobile Malware Threats You Can’t Even See appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is making its way from high-tech labs and Hollywood plots into the hands of the general population. ChatGPT, the text generation tool, hardly needs an introduction and AI art generators (like Craiyon and OpenAI) are hot on its heels in popularity. Inputting nonsensical prompts and receiving ridiculous art clips in return is a fun way to spend an afternoon. 

However, while you’re using AI art generators for a laugh, cybercriminals are using the technology to trick people into believing sensationalist fake news, catfish dating profiles, and damaging impersonations. Sophisticated AI-generated art can be difficult to spot, but here are a few signs that you may be viewing a dubious image or engaging with a criminal behind an AI-generated profile. 

What Are AI Art Generators and Deepfakes? 

To better understand the cyberthreats posed by each, here are some quick definitions: 

• AI art generators. Generative AI is typically the specific type of AI behind art generators. This type of AI is loaded with billions of examples of art. When someone gives it a prompt, the AI flips through its vast library and selects a combination of artworks it thinks will best fulfill the prompt. AI art is a hot topic of debate in the art world because none of the works it creates are technically original. It derives its final product from various artists, the majority of whom haven’t granted the computer program permission to use their creations. 
• Deepfake. A deepfake is a manipulation of existing photos and videos of real people. The resulting manipulation either makes an entirely new person out of a compilation of real people, or the original subject is manipulated to look like they’re doing something they never did. 

AI art and deepfake aren’t technologies found on the dark web. Anyone can download an AI art or deepfake app, such as FaceStealer and Fleeceware. Because the technology isn’t illegal and it has many innocent uses, it’s difficult to regulate. 

How Do People Use AI Art Maliciously? 

It’s perfectly innocent to use AI art to create a cover photo for your social media profile or to pair with a blog post. Though, it’s best to be transparent with your audience and include a disclaimer or caption saying that it’s not original artwork. AI art turns malicious when people use images to intentionally trick others and gain financially from the trickery. 

Catfish may use deepfake profile pictures and videos to convince their targets that they’re genuinely looking for love. Revealing their real face and identity could put a criminal catfish at risk of discovery, so they either use someone else’s pictures or deepfake an entire library of pictures. 

Fake news propagators may also enlist the help of AI art or a deepfake to add “credibility” to their conspiracy theories. When they pair their sensationalist headlines with a photo that, at quick glance, proves its legitimacy, people may be more likely to share and spread the story. Fake news is damaging to society because of the extreme negative emotions they can generate in huge crowds. The resulting hysteria or outrage can lead to violence in some cases. 

Finally, some criminals may use deepfake to trick face ID and gain entry to sensitive online accounts.     To prevent someone from deepfaking their way into your accounts, protect your accounts with multifactor authentication. That means that more than one method of identification is necessary to open the account. These methods can be one-time codes sent to your cellphone, passwords, answers to security questions, or fingerprint ID in addition to face ID.  

3 Ways to Spot Fake Images 

Before you start an online relationship or share an apparent news story on social media, scrutinize images using these three tips to pick out malicious AI-generated art and deepfake. 

1. Inspect the context around the image.

Fake images usually don’t appear by themselves. There’s often text or a larger article around them. Inspect the text for typos, poor grammar, and overall poor composition. Phishers are notorious for their poor writing skills. AI-generated text is more difficult to detect because its grammar and spelling are often correct; however, the sentences may seem choppy. 

2. Evaluate the claim.

Does the image seem too bizarre to be real? Too good to be true? Extend this generation’s rule of thumb of “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet” to include “Don’t believe everything you see on the internet.” If a fake news story is claiming to be real, search for the headline elsewhere. If it’s truly noteworthy, at least one other site will report on the event. 

3. Check for distortions.

AI technology often generates a finger or two too many on hands, and a deepfake creates eyes that may have a soulless or dead look to them. Also, there may be shadows in places where they wouldn’t be natural, and the skin tone may look uneven. In deepfaked videos, the voice and facial expressions may not exactly line up, making the subject look robotic and stiff. 

Boost Your Online Safety With McAfee 

Fake images are tough to spot, and they’ll likely get more realistic the more the technology improves. Awareness of emerging AI threats better prepares you to take control of your online life. There are quizzes online that compare deepfake and AI art with genuine people and artworks created by humans. When you have a spare ten minutes, consider taking a quiz and recognizing your mistakes to identify malicious fake art in the future. 

To give you more confidence in the security of your online life, partner with McAfee. McAfee+ Ultimate is the all-in-one privacy, identity, and device security service. Protect up to six members of your family with the family plan, and receive up to $2 million in identity theft coverage. Partner with McAfee to stop any threats that sneak under your watchful eye. 

The post AI in the Hands of Cybercriminals: How to Spot Fake Art and Deepfakes appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Four years ago, we achieved something that few companies had — pay parity, by compensating all our employees equally for their contributions, regardless of gender. While it might seem like a given, McAfee was the first cybersecurity company to reach this goal, and that work continues, particularly in a time where pay gaps persist.

And they certainly persist. Stubbornly so. Recent data from Pew Research indicates that women in the U.S. make 82 cents for every $1 men earn, a figure that has only increased by two cents in the last two decades. At the current rate, women overall will not reach pay parity until 2059.

We believe no one should have to wait.

At McAfee, we’re proud to demonstrate our commitment to an equitable and inclusive workplace with our ongoing attainment of pay parity. In 2019, we achieved gender pay parity before adding ethnicity to our analysis a year later. Today we’re proud to say that all McAfee team members are compensated fairly and equally for their contributions, regardless of gender or ethnicity.

Creating an equitable environment is part of our DNA and who we are. In fact, half of the McAfee leadership team are female and, together with their male counterparts (including myself), are committed to driving diversity at every level. Whether it’s through our Diversity Impact Analysis, where awards, promotions, or employee programs are analyzed through the lens of equality and equity; or our candidate interviews where a woman is on every panel; or our comprehensive employee benefits and offerings centered around the needs of a diverse workforce — we’re proud of the progress we’re making, while knowing there is still much to do.

Countless studies point to the ways diversity across gender and ethnicity correlates with business performance. At McAfee, we do it first and foremost because we simply believe it’s the right thing to do. Achieving and maintaining pay parity is not without its challenges. It takes effort. Ongoing effort. If left unchecked, we know that the pay divide can resurface overtime, whether through our own unconscious biases or other factors, such as fewer women negotiating starting salaries than men. We must be proactive and intentional to maintain parity. This means quarterly analyses, third-party audits to help identify and address potential bias and subjectivity, and immediate action when we identify discrepancies to ensure the divide remains closed.

At McAfee, we will continue to shape our hiring practices, talent management practices, internal mobility, promotion and award programs, and other practices in a way that creates an employee experience rooted in equity and inclusion, so that all McAfee team members can do the best work of their lives.

We’re honored to play our part in the broader movement toward equality. You can learn more about how McAfee drives meaningful change in our Impact Report and who we are at Careers.McAfee.com.

The post Closing the Pay Gap: How Pay Parity Continues to Transform Our Workplace appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Dozens of content creators center their channels on highlighting the differences between today’s most prominent generations: the Silent Generation, baby boomers, Generation X, millennials, and Generations Z and Alpha. At quick glance, no generation seems to have much in common with the others.  

Despite our vastly different life experiences and philosophies, there’s something that people of any age should get behind: identity and online privacy protection. Young or old, cybercriminals don’t discriminate against who they target. In fact, some generations are more prone to certain scams than others. 

Education on current cyber threats is the first step to defending against them. Here’s how to protect every member of the family against online threats. 

Children 

Cybercriminals can steal identities even from young children who don’t yet have an online presence. Criminals can buy Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of minors on the dark web or gather them through medical record or school system breaches. Those SSNs are valuable to a cybercriminal, because the theft can go undetected for years. Since children aren’t opening credit cards or applying for mortgages, there’s seemingly no reason to keep tabs on their credit and ensure everything is normal.  

To check up on the online safety of your youngest family members, it’s never too early to start identity monitoring. Also, consider putting a credit freeze on your child’s credit. A credit freeze does not negatively affect their credit score. Since they won’t be needing it for several years anyway, might as well make your child’s credit inaccessible to everyone, including criminals. 

Tweens and Teens 

Teenagers crave independence. Often at this age, parents allow their teens to open and manage their first email addresses and social media profiles independently. It’s an important life lesson in organization, responsibility, and digital literacy; however, these platforms are not without risks like cyberbullying, fake news, and social engineering. 

The best way to avoid falling for each is through education. Globally, 13% of children experienced the most severe forms of cyberbullying, including harassment, physical threats, and stalking. Ensure that your tweens and teens who spend time unsupervised on their connected devices know what to do if they encounter cyberbullying. The best course of action is to report the incident to an adult, and in the meantime, to suspend their accounts.    

To steer clear of fake news perpetuated by social media bots and social engineering scams, a safe browsing extension may protect your teen’s device from risky sites. McAfee WebAdvisor not only alerts users to possible hidden malware, but also to phishing attempts, which may be difficult for teenagers to suss out. For teens who are eager to download a “free” TV or video game, they may miss the telltale signs of malicious sites, such as typos, blurry logos, or offers that are too good to be true. 

Adults 

While adults typically have more street smarts than teens, their schedules are brimming with important tasks. Juggling work, social obligations, and running a household often leaves adults feeling like they don’t have time to spare. The feeling that they have to rush through emails, social media direct messages, and even dating app correspondences could increase their susceptibility to phishing, malware, and computer viruses.  

The best advice to adults to avoid phishing or malicious bugs is this: slow down! Take your time when you receive any message from someone you don’t know or have never met in person. If you feel even an iota of suspicion, don’t engage any further with the sender. Delete the message. If it’s important, the person or organization will follow up.  

To fully protect expensive connected devices and the personally identifiable information they store, consider investing in safe browsing, antivirus software, and identity monitoring and restoration services to catch any threats that may have passed under your watchful eye. 

Seniors 

Cybercriminals often seek out seniors as easy targets for online scams. Because they aren’t digital natives like millennials and Gen Zers, seniors are typically less confident in their online skills. For example, they may not realize that every email in their inbox isn’t necessarily sent by someone with good intentions. What can start out as a friendly online pen pal can quickly spiral into divulging sensitive personal information or sending huge sums of money to a criminal. 

The best way to prepare the seniors in your life for online safety is to impart a few, easy-to-follow absolutes. Start with these three rules: 

• Never tell anyone your password. Your bank, tax filing service, nor the IRS will ever need it. 
• Never divulge your SSN over email. 
• Never send money to a stranger, no matter how much their “story” tugs at your heartstrings. 

For peace of mind, enroll the seniors in your family in identity monitoring and restoration services. This will help them get back on their feet if their identity was compromised in a senior scam. 

 The Ultimate Plan to Protect the Whole Family 

Get the whole family committed to safer and more private online lives with the help of McAfee+ Ultimate Family Plan. The Family Plan covers up to six individuals and protects their online lives with an entire suite of comprehensive privacy, identity, and device security features. For example, families can receive up to $2 million in identity theft recovery and $50,000 in ransomware coverage. The plan also includes preventive measures to fight online crime, such as safe browsing tools, an advanced firewall, unlimited VPN, and antivirus software for unlimited devices. 

Empower your whole family with online confidence and protection for their digital life! 

The post Protect the Whole Family with McAfee+ Ultimate Family Plan appeared first on McAfee Blog.

International Women’s Day is a time for us to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women at McAfee and around the world. We reflect on progress, the work ahead, and how all of us can create a more equitable and inclusive world.

Collectively we can #EmbraceEquity and raise awareness of how equity leads to equality today and beyond.

See how Team McAfee embraces equity.

	“As a father of two daughters, I want them to be able to embrace any opportunities they encounter and be successful at whatever they put they mind to. So, I embrace equity as it creates the best environment for everyone to succeed and simply, it’s just the right thing to do.” Andrew – Software Sales Senior Manager
	“In 2023, I’m hopeful that equity will be embraced by all sectors of our society. When we collectively embrace equity, we create a more equal world that strives to be diverse, inclusive and fair.” Fiona, Accounting Senior Manager
	“I embrace equity because I believe that everyone deserves to be treated fairly and have equal opportunities, regardless of their background, identity, or personal characteristics.” – Jeremy, Senior UC Engineer
	“Embracing equity will help us advance into a future where we appreciate and value uniqueness of each other!” – Ambareen, Senior Manage, Content Operations & QA, DevOps
	“I love the #EmbraceEquity theme as it demonstrates how the conversation has progressed to a point where we are having meaningful conversations about why equality is not enough. Equity-based solutions consider the experiences people have and with that more women can get what they need to succeed. This is a long-term solution and I’m excited for continuing this conversation going forward.” – Keegan, Senior Retail Channel Marketing Manager
	“I embrace equity because it’s the right thing. But more than this, because without it there is no way we would be able to achieve our full potential.” – Aaron, VP Finance
	“To me, #EmbracingEquity means to accept everyone’s differences, uniqueness, and backgrounds; the very essence that makes us each who we are.”  – Deb, Executive Assistant
	“Change won’t happen unless we make it happen. I embrace equity because well it’s so clearly and fundamentally the right thing to do.” – Jared, VP Legal
	“Embracing Equity means recognizing and supporting women across the globe, regardless of their background. We come together to empower one another, celebrate our achievements, and continue to build workplaces where ALL women can thrive.”  – Taylor, People Experience Program Manager
	“I reaffirm my commitment to raise my voice to help others who need support to be heard, to enable them to succeed in their career and to lead. When we make room for diverse voices – we enrich the social fabric and through this, deepen our own perspectives.” – Natalia, Software Sales
	“Gender equality is not just an issue for women to solve, it takes men and allies to lean in and truly remove those barriers. The more we can speak out, the more we can stand up and the more stories we can share the greater chance we have to truly inspire action. We can help create a more equitable world for everyone.” – Mike, Director of Global Transformation
	“Humanity is diverse: we’re all unique individuals with our own passions, strengths and weaknesses. Equity is taking that uniqueness into account, so everyone has the resources and opportunities they need to succeed.” – Elodie, Security Researcher

Join McAfee and millions of others around the world in celebrating International Women’s Day by sharing how you’ll #EmbraceEquity.

Interested in finding out more about what we’re doing to drive meaningful change at McAfee? Check out our Impact Report

The post McAfee Teammates Share How They #EmbraceEquity This International Women’s Day appeared first on McAfee Blog.

It’s hard to imagine a world without cellphones. Whether it be a smartphone or a flip phone, these devices have truly shaped the late 20th century and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. But while users have become accustomed to having almost everything they could ever want at fingertips length, cybercriminals were busy setting up shop. To trick unsuspecting users, cybercriminals have set up crafty mobile threats – some that users may not even be fully aware of. These sneaky cyberthreats include SMSishing, fake networks, malicious apps, and grayware, which have all grown in sophistication over time. This means users need to be equipped with the know-how to navigate the choppy waters that come with these smartphone-related cyberthreats. Let’s get started.

Watch out for SMSishing Hooks

If you use email, then you are probably familiar with what phishing is. And while phishing is commonly executed through email and malicious links, there is a form of phishing that specifically targets mobile devices called SMSishing. This growing threat allows cybercriminals to utilize messaging apps to send unsuspecting users a SMSishing message. These messages serve one purpose – to obtain personal information, such as logins and financial information. With that information, cybercriminals could impersonate the user to access banking records or steal their identity.

While this threat was once a rarity, its the rise in popularity is two-fold. The first aspect is that users have been educated to distrust email messages and the second is the rise in mobile phone usage throughout the world. Although this threat shows no sign of slowing down, there are ways to avoid a cybercriminal’s SMSishing hooks. Get started with these tips:

1. Always double-check the message’s source. If you receive a text from your bank or credit card company, call the organization directly to ensure the message is legit.
2. Delete potential SMSishing Do not reply to or click on any links within a suspected malicious text, as that could lead to more SMSishing attempts bombarding your phone.
3. Invest in comprehensive mobile security. Adding an extra level of security can not only help protect your device but can also notify you when a threat arises.

Public Wi-Fi Woes  

Public and free Wi-Fi is practically everywhere nowadays, with some destinations even having city-wide Wi-Fi set up. But that Wi-Fi users are connecting their mobile device to may not be the most secure, given cybercriminals can exploit weaknesses in these networks to intercept messages, login credentials, or other personal information. Beyond exploiting weaknesses, some cybercriminals take it a step further and create fake networks with generic names that trick unsuspecting users into connecting their devices. These networks are called “evil-twin” networks. For help in spotting these imposters, there are few tricks the savvy user can deploy to prevent an evil twin network from wreaking havoc on their mobile device:

1. Look for password-protected networks. As strange as it sounds, if you purposely enter the incorrect password but are still allowed access, the network is most likely a fraud.
2. Pay attention to page load times. If the network you are using is very slow, it is more likely a cybercriminal is using an unreliable mobile hotspot to connect your mobile device to the web.
3. Use a virtual private network or VPN. While you’re on-the-go and using public Wi-Fi, add an extra layer of security in the event you accidentally connect to a malicious network. VPNs can encrypt your online activity and keep it away from prying eyes. 

Malicious Apps: Fake It till They Make It

Fake apps have become a rampant problem for Android and iPhone users alike. This is mainly in part due to malicious apps hiding in plain sight on legitimate sources, such as the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. After users download a faulty app, cybercriminals deploy malware that operates in the background of mobile devices which makes it difficult for users to realize anything is wrong. And while users think they’ve just downloaded another run-of-the-mill app, the malware is hard at work obtaining personal data.

In order to keep sensitive information out of the hands of cybercriminals, here are a few things users can look for when they need to determine whether an app is fact or fiction:

1. Check for typos and poor grammar. Always check the app developer name, product title, and description for typos and grammatical errors. Often, malicious developers will spoof real developer IDs, even just by a single letter or number, to seem legitimate.
2. Examine the download statistics. If you’re attempting to download a popular app, but it has a surprisingly low number of downloads, that is a good indicator that an app is most likely fake.
3. Read the reviews. With malicious apps, user reviews are your friend. By reading a few, you can receive vital information that can help you determine whether the app is fake or not.

The Sly Operation of Grayware

With so many types of malware out in the world, it’s hard to keep track of them all. But there is one in particular that mobile device users need to be keenly aware of called grayware. As a coverall term for software or code that sits between normal and malicious, grayware comes in many forms, such as adware, spyware or madware. While adware and spyware can sometimes operate simultaneously on infected computers, madware — or adware on mobile devices — infiltrates smartphones by hiding within rogue apps. Once a mobile device is infected with madware from a malicious app, ads can infiltrate almost every aspect on a user’s phone. Madware isn’t just annoying; it also is a security and privacy risk, as some threats will try to obtain users’ data. To avoid the annoyance, as well as the cybersecurity risks of grayware, users can prepare their devices with these cautionary steps:

1. Be sure to update your device. Grayware looks for vulnerabilities that can be exploited, so be sure to always keep your device’s software up-to-date.
2. Beware of rogue apps. As mentioned in the previous section, fake apps are now a part of owning a smartphone. Use the tips in the above section to ensure you keep malicious apps off of your device that may contain grayware.
3. Consider a comprehensive mobile security system. By adding an extra level of security, you can help protect your devices from threats, both old and new.

The post Cybercrime’s Most Wanted: Four Mobile Threats that Might Surprise You appeared first on McAfee Blog.

We created McAfee+ so people can be safe and feel safe online, particularly in a time where there’s so much concern about identity theft and invasions of online privacy—and reviewers have given it top marks as a result. 

With data breaches, spam texts and calls, companies collecting and selling personal info, and suspicious charges cropping up on billing statements becoming so commonplace nowadays, it can seem like there’s little you can do to prevent it. Yet that’s far from the case. McAfee+ offers protection that puts you in control of your identity and privacy, all while protecting your devices from viruses and threats. 

Journalists who have reviewed McAfee+ recognize the need for this kind of protection today, and here’s what three leading consumer PC publications had to say about McAfee+ and how strongly its protection stacks up. 

McAfee+ Gets 4.5 Stars and the Editor’s Choice Award from Tech Advisor 

Tech Advisor’s review opened with the big picture, stating ‘McAfee+ is Total Protection on steroids’ and McAfee+ is ‘a complete cybersecurity package that goes beyond simply blocking nasties to offer holistic protection for everything you do online.’ Tech Advisor said, “This feels like the beginning of a new era of cybersecurity where the customer is no longer helpless to unwanted intrusion, and McAfee+ makes sure they have the tools to use that new-found power.” 

Top features they called out include Lost Wallet support, which will help you cancel your cards and order replacements from a single screen. Moreover, they applauded our Identity Theft and Restoration Coverage which is “the sort of identity protection that you’d normally see from an insurance company.” 

Our industry-first Protection Score also racked up points with Tech Advisor, which really latched onto the idea of improving their score. “We actually found chasing points quite compulsive – and most importantly, it means that you don’t need to worry about how any of the features we’re about to look at work, what they do, or even what they’re called – McAfee+ does all that for you, making it great, not just for tech-heads, but seniors, kids, and the less-tech-savvy alike.” 

In their summary of McAfee+, Tech Advisor expressed our approach to online protection well by saying, “the future of safety online is holistic, and McAfee has come up with a package that reflects the realities of modern-day living.” 

PC Mag Gives McAfee+ 4 Stars with an “Excellent” Rating 

The PC Mag review gave McAfee+ a thorough walkthrough with a particular focus on its privacy and identity features, saying, “McAfee+ is now the most complete product in the McAfee line, and its combination of unlimited device protection with identity theft remediation is quite appealing.” 

It highlighted our Personal Data Cleanup feature that scans some of the riskiest data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info and provides guidance for removing it—and further touched on our Identity Theft and Restoration Coverage that, “offers full identity monitoring and identity theft remediation rivaling that of many competing products, and you can now extend protection to your family.”  

The review also put McAfee’s Credit Monitoring, Credit Lock, and Security Freeze features through the paces as well, which help you keep an eye on changes to your credit score, report, and accounts with timely notifications and guidance so you can take action to tackle identity theft.  

PC Mag also called out the unlimited device coverage that protects all devices in your household, McAfee’s excellent third-party test scores for antivirus protection, and unlimited VPN—all adding up to a four-star review and an “Excellent” rating. 

Trusted Reviews – A Trusted Score of 4.5 Stars and a Recommended Award 

Like Tech Advisor, Trusted Reviews focused on the broader nature of online protection today and that it calls for much more than antivirus. Identity and privacy protection are equally important, and “McAfee+ Advanced is very much a do-it-all service.” 

Notably, along the same lines, the review mentioned that the “new McAfee Plus tiers are among very few mainstream internet security suites to offer data broker removal services in the UK and Europe.” As mentioned above, our Personal Data Cleanup can help you spot and remove personal information from data broker sites, which bad actors of all stripes use to commit scams and identity theft. A couple of examples—scammers use data brokers to create lists of people that they can send spammy texts and calls, and thieves can also use data broker sites to harvest info that can help them commit identity theft. 

Trusted Reviews also called out the unlimited number of devices and how it’s helpful for households with a lot of hardware to protect. The core antivirus was highlighted as well, in that “the performance for McAfee Plus Advanced in recent lab tests has been excellent. It detected all malware with no false positives in AV-TEST’s latest Windows consumer antivirus test.” 

The journalist concludes their review by stating that “the company’s push into identity protection and recovery in the UK is almost beyond the score of my anti-malware focus on these reviews, but it’s a useful toolkit to have on hand, and its data broker listing removal service is very welcome indeed.” 

See what McAfee+ can do for you 

Drop by our product page for more about McAfee+, including our new Family plans that include personalized protection for each member of the family. With several tiers and degrees of protection available across all our plans, you can get the level of privacy, identity, and device protection that’s right for you and everyone in your household. 

The post The Reviews are In—McAfee+ Earns Top Marks from Review Sites appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Each year the independent labs at AV-TEST announce their best products in IT security, and McAfee has come out on top with AV-TEST’s award for “Best Protection.”  

McAfee received the award across a field of 20 different products assessed by AV-TEST, which included evaluation across three key categories: 

• Protection from malware. 
• Performance speed. 
• User-friendliness of the app. 

Maik Morgenstern, CEO of AV-TEST, said: “The test category of protection is an elite discipline in the lab of AV-TEST. That is why we are particularly pleased that we were able to confer such an important and coveted award on McAfee. The consumer user product Total Protection demonstrated with perfect detection in all lab tests that it earned the AV-TEST Best Protection 2022 Award for Consumer Users.” 

Their labs utilize thousands of rigorous real-world tests that determine how well online protection performs against known, new, and emerging threats—such as previously unknown zero-day malware, drive-by attacks, malicious downloads from websites, attacks via infected emails, ransomware, and many more.  

“Recognition from AV-TEST is an honor,” says Chief Technology Officer, Steve Grobman. “Their reputation for analysis and quality assurance stands tall and further reinforces our leadership in online protection. Grobman also continued to say, “With the internet now an integral part of our daily lives, cybercriminals have stepped in to take advantage of that reliance. As ever, we’re committed to staying one step ahead of them so that people can confidently enjoy their lives online.” 

Get a free 30-day trial of McAfee Total Protection, which includes McAfee’s award-winning anti-malware technology plus identity monitoring, Secure VPN, and safe browsing for all-in-one online protection. 

The post McAfee Awarded Best Protection by the Labs at AV-TEST appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Malware—the term seems to be at the center of the news every day, with each headline telling of a new way the cyber threat has inserted itself into our lives. From an entire attack campaign on banks worldwide, to a strain residing within medical devices, to a variant that has learned to self-heal, the list of malware-based attacks goes on. And as they do, it’s becoming more and more clear that today’s malware has not only become adaptive, but has learned how to spread its wings further than before, to devices beyond laptops and phones, and in a way that creates a longevity behind each cyberattack it spearheads.

However, though it is important to understand the many forms that malware, or malicious software, takes, it’s crucial to first and foremost grasp what it is.

What is Malware?

The abbreviated term for malicious software, “malware,” is a generic term used to describe any type of software or code specifically designed to exploit a computer/mobile device or the data it contains, without consent. Most malware is designed to have some financial gain for the cybercriminal, as crooks typically use it to extract data that they can leverage over victims. That information can range anywhere from financial data, to healthcare records, to personal emails and passwords—the possibilities of what sort of information can be compromised have become endless.

How Malware Spreads

So how exactly can these cybercriminals get their hands on so much data? Since its birth over 30 years ago, malware has found a variety of vessels to help it enact attacks. This includes email attachments, malicious advertisements on popular sites (malvertising), fake software installations, USB drives, infected apps, phishing emails, and even text messages.

Types of Malware

Now, these are just a few of the ways malicious software can be delivered–but there are also different kinds of malware itself. To name a few:

• Viruses. Almost always attached in a file, this malware variant usually comes as a document in an email that holds a virus payload (the part of malware that performs the malicious action). Once the victim opens the file, boom—infected.

• Worms. This malware strain doesn’t require user interaction or even a file to attack. Instead, worms have the ability to copy themselves from machine to machine, usually by exploiting some sort of security weakness in a software or operating system.

• Trojans. This type of malware is the most commonly leveraged by cybercriminals, as of late. Trojans masquerade as harmless applications (for example, those you’d use on your phone), tricking users into downloading and using them. Once up and running, they then can steal personal data, crash a device, spy on the someone’s activities, or even launch a DDoS attack.

• Ransomware. One of the most profitable, and therefore one of the most popular, of malware types amongst cybercriminals is ransomware. This variant simply installs itself onto a victim’s machine, encrypts their files, and then turns around and demands a ransom (usually in Bitcoin) to return that data to the user.

How You Can Fight Back

Now that you know what malware is, how it can be delivered, and the many forms it takes, it’s time to learn how you can protect yourself against it:

• Keep your operating system and applications updated. Cybercriminals look for vulnerabilities in old or outdated software to capitalize on, so make sure you install updates as soon as they become available since they can close security holes that may have been exposed.

• Avoid clicking on unknown links. Whether it comes via email, a social networking site, or a text message, if a link seems unfamiliar, keep away from it. This especially goes for links that come from someone you don’t know.

• Be selective about which sites you visit. Do your best to only use known and trusted sites, as well as using comprehensive security packages such as  McAfee Ultimate, to avoid any sites that may in fact be malicious without your knowing.  

• Same goes for what apps you download. When looking for your next favorite app, make sure you only download something that checks out. Read app reviews, utilize only official app stores, and if something comes off as remotely fishy, steer clear.

• Be alert. Cybercriminals depend on laziness and inattentiveness–so prove them wrong. Don’t believe manipulative emails, don’t leave your computer unattended, and most importantly, stay educated on the kinds of malware that could come your way.

The post Malware: 5 Tips for Fighting the Malicious Software appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Did you just get word that your personal information may have been caught up in a data breach? If so, you can take steps to protect yourself from harm should your info get into the hands of a scammer or thief. 

How does that information get collected in the first place? We share personal information with companies for multiple reasons simply by going about our day—to pay for takeout at our favorite restaurant, to check into a hotel, or to collect rewards at the local coffee shop. Of course, we use our credit and debit cards too, sometimes as part of an online account that tracks our purchase history.  

In other words, we leave trails of data practically wherever we go these days, and that data is of high value to hackers. Thus, all those breaches we read about.  

Data breaches are a (sad) fact of life  

Whether it’s a major breach that exposes millions of records or one of many other smaller-scale breaches like the thousands that have struck healthcare providers, each one serves as a reminder that data breaches happen regularly and that we could find ourselves affected. Depending on the breach and the kind of information you’ve shared with the business or organization in question, information stolen in a breach could include:  

• Usernames and passwords  
• Email addresses  
• Phone numbers and home addresses  
• Contact information for friends and family members  
• Birthdays and driver’s license numbers  
• Credit and debit card numbers or bank account details  
• Purchase history and account activity  
• Social security numbers  

What do crooks do with that data? Several things. Apart from using it themselves, they may sell that data to other criminals. Either way, this can lead to illicit use of credit and debit cards, draining of bank accounts, claiming tax refunds or medical expenses in the names of the victims, or, in extreme cases, assuming the identity of others altogether.   

Examples of data breaches over the recent years  

In all, data is a kind of currency in of itself because it has the potential to unlock several aspects of victim’s life, each with its own monetary value. It’s no wonder that big breaches like these have made the news over the years, with some of the notables including:  

• U-Haul – 2022: A breach which accessed their customer contracts system between November 2021 and April 2022 exposed the names, driver’s license numbers, and state ID numbers of 2.2 million renters.  

• Los Angeles Unified School District – 2022: Hackers released 500 GB of highly sensitive information after a breach and when their subsequent ransomware demands were not met, exposing Social Security and passport numbers, health information, and psychological assessments of some students. 
• Facebook – 2021: Two sets of data exposed the records of more than 530 million users, including phone numbers, account names, and Facebook IDs. According to Facebook, the source of the breach dated back to 2019, at which time the flaw was remedied, even though the information was exposed in 2021. 
• Marriott International (Starwood) – 2018: Half a million guests had names, email and physical mailing addresses, phone numbers, passport numbers, Starwood Preferred Guest account information, dates of birth, and other information about their stays exposed.  
• Equifax – 2017: Some 147 million records that included names, addresses, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, and Social Security Numbers were exposed, along with a relatively small subset of 200,000 victims having their credit card information exposed as well.  

As mentioned, these are big breaches with big companies that we likely more than recognize. Yet smaller and mid-sized businesses are targets as well, with some 43% of data breaches involving companies of that size. Likewise, restaurants and retailers have seen their Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals compromised, right on down to neighborhood restaurants.  

Staying secure in light of data breaches  

When a company experiences a data breach, customers need to realize that this could impact their online safety. If your favorite coffee shop’s customer database gets leaked, there’s a chance that your personal or financial information was exposed. However, this doesn’t mean that your online safety is doomed. If you think you were affected by a breach, you can take several steps to protect yourself from the potential side effects.   

1. Keep an eye on your bank and credit card accounts 

One of the most effective ways to determine whether someone is fraudulently using one or more of your accounts is to check your statements. If you see any charges that you did not make, report them to your bank or credit card company immediately. They have processes in place to handle fraud. While you’re with them, see if they offer alerts for strange purchases, transactions, or withdrawals.  

Our credit monitoring service can help you keep an eye on this. It monitors changes to your credit score, report, and accounts with timely notifications and guidance so you can take action to tackle identity theft. 

2. Monitor your identity with the help of a service

Breached and stolen information often ends up in dark web marketplaces where hackers, scammers, and thieves purchase it to commit yet more crime. Once it was difficult to know if your information was caught up in such marketplaces, yet now an identity monitoring service can do the detective work for you. 

Our service monitors the dark web for your personal info, including email, government IDs, credit card and bank account info, and more. This can help keep your personal info safe with early alerts that show you if your data is found on the dark web, an average of 10 months ahead of similar services.​ From there, you’ll get guidance that you can act on, which can help protect your info and accounts from theft. 

3. Place a fraud alert

If you suspect that your data might have been compromised, place a fraud alert on your credit. This not only ensures that any new or recent requests undergo scrutiny, but also allows you to have extra copies of your credit report so you can check for suspicious activity. You can place one fraud alert with any of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and they will notify the other two. A fraud alert typically lasts for a year, although there are options for extending it as well.  

4. Look into freezing your credit if needed 

Freezing your credit will make it highly difficult for criminals to take out loans or open new accounts in your name, as a freeze halts all requests to pull your credit—even legitimate ones. In this way, it’s a far stronger measure than placing a fraud alert. Note that if you plan to take out a loan, open a new credit card, or other activity that will prompt a credit report, you’ll need to take extra steps to see that through while the freeze is in place. (The organization you’re working with can assist with the specifics.) Unlike the fraud alert, you’ll need to contact each major credit reporting agency to put one in place. Also, a freeze lasts as long as you have it in place. You’ll have to remove it yourself, again with each agency.  

You can centrally manage this process with our security freeze service, which stops companies from looking at your credit profile, and thus halts the application process for loans, credit cards, utilities, new bank accounts, and more. A security freeze won’t affect your credit score. ​ 

5. Update your passwords 

Ensure that your passwords are strong and unique. Many people utilize the same password or variations of it across all their accounts. Therefore, be sure to diversify your passcodes to ensure hackers cannot obtain access to all your accounts at once, should one password be compromised. You can also employ a password manager to keep track of your credentials, such as the one you’ll find in comprehensive online protection software.  

6. Consider taking out identity theft coverage 

If the unfortunate happens to you, an identity theft coverage & restoration service can help you get back on your feet. Ours offers $1 million in coverage for lawyer fees, travel expenses, and stolen funds reimbursement. It further provides support from a licensed recovery expert who can take the needed steps to repair your identity and credit. In all, it helps you recover the costs of identity theft along with the time and money it takes to recover from it. 

7. Clean up your personal data online

You can take this step any time, even if you haven’t been caught up in a data breach. The fact is that data broker companies collect and sell thousands of pieces of information on millions and millions of people worldwide, part of a global economy estimated at $200 billion U.S. dollars a year. And they’ll sell it to anyone—from advertisers for their campaigns, to scammers who will use it for spammy emails, texts, and calls, and to thieves who use that information for identity theft.  

Yet you can clean it up. Our personal data cleanup service can scan some of the riskiest data broker sites and show you which ones are selling your personal info. It also provides guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and, with select products, even manage the removal for you. 

8. Use online protection software and expand your security toolbox 

Comprehensive online protection software will offer you the tools and services listed above, along with further features that can protect you online. That includes a VPN to keep your time online more private from online data collection while protecting it from thieves who’re out to steal credit card and account information. It also includes web browsing protection that can warn you of sketchy websites and malicious downloads that look to steal your information. In all, it’s thorough protection for your devices, privacy, and identity. And in a time of data breaches, that kind of protection has become essential.   

The post How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft After a Data Breach appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Smartphones put the proverbial world in the palm of your hand—you pay with it, play with it, keep in touch with it, and even run parts of your home with it. No wonder hackers and scammers have made smartphones a target. A prime one. 

Each year, our Consumer Mobile Threat Report uncovers trends in mobile threats, which detail tricks that hackers and scammers have turned to, along with ways you can protect yourself from them. For 2023, the big trend is apps. Malicious apps, more specifically.  

Malicious and fake apps 

Malicious apps often masquerade as games, office utilities, and communication tools. Yet now with the advent of a ChatGPT AI chatbot and the DALL-E 2 AI image generator, yet more AI-related malicious apps have cropped up to cash in on the buzz. 

And money is what it’s all about. Hackers and scammers generally want your money, or they want your data and personal info that they can turn into money. Creating fraudulent ads, stealing user credentials, or skimming personal information are some of the most common swindles that these apps try. Much of this can happen in the background, often without victims knowing it. 

How do these apps end up on people’s phones? Sometimes they’re downloaded from third-party app stores, which may not have a rigorous review process in place to spot malicious apps—or the third-party store may be a front for distributing malware-laden apps. 

They also find their way into legitimate app stores, like Apple’s App Store and Google Play. While these stores indeed have review processes in place to weed out malicious apps, hackers and scammers have found workarounds. Sometimes they upload an app that’s initially clean and then push the malware to users as part of an update. Other times, they embed the malicious code so that it only triggers once it’s run in certain countries. They will also encrypt bad code in the app that they submit, which can make it difficult for stores to sniff out.  

In all, our report cites several primary ways how hackers and scammers are turning to apps today: 

• Sliding into your DMs: 6.2% of threats that McAfee identified on Google during 2022 were in the communication category, mainly malware masqueraded as SMS and messaging apps. But even legitimate communication apps can create an opportunity for scammers. They will use fraudulent messages to trick consumers into clicking on a malicious link, trying to get them to share login credentials, account numbers, or personal information. While these messages sometimes contain spelling or grammar errors or use odd phrasing, the emergence of AI tools like ChatGPT can help scammers clean up their spelling and grammar mistakes, making it tougher to spot scam messages by mistakes in the content. The severity of these Communication threats is also evident in the volume of adults (66%) who have been messaged by a stranger on social media, with 55% asked to transfer money. 
• Taking advantage of Bring Your Own Device policies: 23% of threats that McAfee identified were in the app category of tools. Work-related apps for mobile devices are great productivity boosters—categories like PDF editors, VPNs, messaging managers, document scanners, battery boosters, and memory cleaners. These types of apps are targeted for malware because people expect the app to require permissions on their phone. Scammers will set up the app to ask for permissions to storage, messaging, calendars, contacts, location, and even system settings, which scammers to retrieve all sorts of work-related information.  
• Targeting teens and tween gamers with phones: 9% of threats that McAfee identified were casual, arcade, and action games. Malicious apps often target things that children and teens like, such as gaming, making videos, and managing social media. The most common types of threats detected within the gaming category in 2022 were aggressive adware—apps that display excessive advertisements while using the app and even when you’re not using it. It’s important to make sure that kids’ phones are either restricted from downloading new apps, or that they’re informed and capable of questioning suspicious apps and identifying fraudulent ones. 

How you can avoid downloading malicious and fake apps 

For starters, stick with legitimate apps stores like Google Play and Apple’s App Store, which have measures in place to review and vet apps to help ensure that they are safe and secure. And for the malicious apps that sneak past these processes, Google and Apple are quick to remove malicious apps once discovered, making their stores that much safer. 

1) Review with a critical eye.

As with so many attacks, hackers rely on people clicking links or tapping “download” without a second thought. Before you download, take time to do some quick research. That may uncover some signs that the app is malicious. Check out the developer—have they published several other apps with many downloads and good reviews? A legit app typically has quite a few reviews, whereas malicious apps may have only a handful of (phony) five-star reviews. Lastly, look for typos and poor grammar in both the app description and screenshots. They could be a sign that a hacker slapped the app together and quickly deployed it. 

2) Go with a strong recommendation.

Yet better than combing through user reviews yourself is getting a recommendation from a trusted source, like a well-known publication or from app store editors themselves. In this case, much of the vetting work has been done for you by an established reviewer. A quick online search like “best fitness apps” or “best apps for travelers” should turn up articles from legitimate sites that can suggest good options and describe them in detail before you download. 

3) Keep an eye on app permissions.

Another way hackers weasel their way into your device is by getting permissions to access things like your location, contacts, and photos—and they’ll use sketchy apps to do it. So, check and see what permissions the app is requesting. If it’s asking for way more than you bargained for, like a simple game wanting access to your camera or microphone, it may be a scam. Delete the app and find a legitimate one that doesn’t ask for invasive permissions like that. If you’re curious about permissions for apps that are already on your phone, iPhone users can learn how to allow or revoke app permission here, and Android can do the same here. 

4) Protect your smartphone with security software.

With all that we do on our phones, it’s important to get security software installed on them, just like we install it on our computers and laptops. Whether you go with comprehensive online protection software that secures all your devices or pick up an app in Google Play or Apple’s App Store, you’ll have malware, web, and device security that’ll help you stay safe on your phone.  

5) Update your phone’s operating system.

Together with installing security software, keeping your phone’s operating system up to date can help to keep you protected from most malware. Updates can fix vulnerabilities that hackers rely on to pull off their malware-based attacks—it’s another tried and true method of keeping yourself safe and your phone running great too. 

Protecting yourself while using apps 

Who can you trust? As for scammers who use legitimate communications apps to lure in their victims, McAfee’s Mobile Research team recommends the following: 

• Be suspicious of unsolicited emails, texts, or direct messages and think twice before you click on any links. 
• Ensure that your mobile device is protected with security solutions that includes features to monitor and block potentially malicious links, such as the web protection found in our own online protection software. 
• Remember that most of these scams work because the scammer creates a false sense of urgency or preys on a heightened emotional state. Pause before you rush to interact with any message that is threatening or urgent, especially if it is from an unknown or unlikely sender. 
• If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Whether it’s a phony job offer, a low price on an item that’s usually expensive, a stranger promising romance, or winnings from a lottery you never entered, scammers will weave all kinds of stories to steal your money and your personal information. 

Get the full story with our Consumer Mobile Threat Report 

The complete report uncovers yet more mobile trends, such as the top mobile malware groups McAfee identified in 2022, predictions for the year ahead, ways you can keep your children safer on their phones, and ways you can keep yourself safer when you use your phone for yourself and for work.  

The full report is free, and you can download it here. 

The post McAfee 2023 Consumer Mobile Threat Report appeared first on McAfee Blog.

ChatGPT is, without doubt, the biggest tech story of the year. It’s created debate in schools and universities, made history by being the fastest ever growing app in history and even caused Google to issue a Code Red! But if you haven’t heard anything about it or still can’t get your head around it then I’ve got you! Keep reading because I’ve put together a ‘cheat sheet’ to help get you up to speed plus some pointers on how to manage this intriguing technology and your kids. 

So, what is ChatGPT? 

ChatGPT is an online software program that uses a new form of artificial intelligence – generative artificial intelligence – to provide human style responses to a broad array of requests. And let me assure you, its responses are much less robotic and far more intelligent sounding that earlier iterations of artificial intelligence. Whether you need a recipe formulated, poetry written, tips for your next party or text translated, ChatGPT can assist. Think of it as Google but on steroids. But instead of overwhelming you with 1000’s of search results, it summarises them in a conversational form.  

It was developed by San Francisco startup OpenAI, which was co-founded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2015. Like all new startups, it also has a host of investors in tow but Microsoft is without a doubt, the biggest. 

When I asked ChatGPT to describe itself, it replied: 

ChatGPT is a conversational AI model developed by OpenAI. It’s based on the GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3) architecture, which is one of the largest and most advanced language models in existence. The model has been trained on a massive corpus of text data from the internet, allowing it to generate human-like responses to a wide range of topics and questions. It can be used to power various applications such as chatbots, language translation, content generation, and more. 

Let me simplify – ChatGPT uses generative artificial intelligence to provide ‘human style’ content, language translation, summarisation ability and search engine results within seconds. It can solve maths questions, write jokes, develop a resume and cover letter, write code and even help you prepare for a job interview. 

How Does It Work? 

ChatGPT is powered by a large language model, or LLM, meaning it’s programmed to understand human language and create responses based on large quantities of data. It has the ability to remember or ‘log’ context from a user’s previous message and use it to create responses later in the conversation, giving it a human-like feel. 

How Popular is it? 

Just five days after its release, Chap GPT had signed up 1 million users, according to a tweet by OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman. In just two months, it had amassed a whopping 100 million monthly active users making it the fastest growing application in history. And just to give you some context, it took TikTok nine months to reach 100 million users and two and half years for Instagram. 

Without doubt, the main reasons for its popularity is the ease of access and its seemingly endless scope of ability. It’s super easy to use – once you’ve set up an account, it’s as simple as typing in your request or question into the text box. And there is no minimum age required for users – unlike many other social media platforms. And because it can assist with any issue from writing a legal brief to answering questions to providing companionship in almost 100 languages, a lot of us could easily find a way to use it in our day-to-day lives. 

Some experts believe that the timing of ChatGPT is another reason for its success. It’s widely known that the Renaissance period followed The Black Death in the 14th Century so ChatGPT could have arrived at a time in history when creativity is surging after 2-3 very long and hard years of living with Covid. 

How Much Does It Cost? 

ChatGPT is still a free service however recently it has introduced a premium version called ChatGPT Plus. For $US20 per month, users will get access to the chatbot even when demand is high with a faster response speed. Priority access to new features will also be made available to new users. While I have never had an issue gaining access to ChatGPT, even in peak times, friends of mine in the US have had to invest in the paid membership otherwise they have to wait till late in the evening to have their questions answered! 

Does It Have Any Competitors? 

Microsoft recently announced that it will be incorporating some of the ChatGPT functionality into its Bing and Edge search engines but that it will use a next generation OpenAI model that is more powerful than ChatGPT. If you’re a Microsoft customer, keep a watch on your inbox for an invite! 

Google has just unveiled its offering. Called Bard, it’s similar to ChatGPT but the biggest difference is that it will use current information from the web whereas ChatGPT’s data sources are only current as of September 2021 – I did confirm that with my ChatGPT source!! Bard is projected to be ready for use by the end of February 2023. Interestingly, Google was in fact the first to embrace conversational AI through the launch of Lamda (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) in 2021 but it didn’t launch a consumer version which left a wide opening for ChatGPT to be the first offering in the consumer race. 

As a Parent, What Should I Be Concerned About? 

There’s no doubt that ChatGPT will help fuel a curious mind and be a captivating way to spend time online for inquisitive kids however there are a few things us parents need to be aware of to ensure our kids stay as safe as possible. 

1. When ChatGPT Can Do Your Homework 

Without a doubt, using ChatGPT to write your essay, solve a maths problem or translate your French homework, has been the biggest concern for schools, universities, and parents. Some schools have already banned the use of ChatGPT while others are rewriting curriculums to avoid tasks that could be undertaken by ChatGPT.  

However, it appears that these concerns may be managed with the release of new software that can detect work that has been produced by ChatGPT. Stanford University has just released DetectGPT which will help teachers detect work that was created using the ChatGPT chatbot or other similar large language models (LLMs). ChatGPT has also released its own ChatGPT software detection tool however it does refer to it as ‘imperfect’.   

What To Do – Some experts believe we need to work with ChatGPT and that it in fact could be a powerful teaching tool if it’s embraced and used wisely. Regardless of your thoughts on this, I suggest you work closely with your child’s school to understand what their policy is on its use and encourage your kids to follow it accordingly. 

2. Inappropriate Content 

Even though ChatGPT states that its intention is to ‘generate appropriate and informative responses’, there’s no guarantee that this will always happen. I have spent a considerable time trying to catch it out and I am pleased to report that I couldn’t. It appears that there are certain topics it steers away from and that it does seem to have a good set of boundaries about what questions not to answer or topics to not content on, however don’t rely on these! 

What To Do – If you have concerns, ensure your child has supervision when using ChatGPT. 

3. Chat GPT Doesn’t Always Get It Right 

While ChatGPT’s IQ and scope seems limitless, it isn’t perfect. Not only have there been reports of it being factually incorrect when creating content, its data sources are only current as at September 2021. 

What To Do – Double check the content it creates for accuracy but steer your child towards a reliable and safe source for research projects. 

And my final piece of advice – if you haven’t yet used ChatGPT, make yourself a cuppa and give it a whirl. Like everything in the online world, you need to understand how it works if you want to be able to help your kids stay safe. And if you aren’t sure what to ask it – why not a recipe for dinner? Simply enter what you can find in your fridge in the text box and within seconds, you’ll have a recipe! 

Bon Appetit! 

Alex   

The post A Parent’s Guide to ChatGPT appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Deciding when to give your child a phone is not an easy task. Should you wait until they start high school or until they catch public transport home alone from school? Or, should 10 be the magic age when they become official phone owners? Or do hold off as long as you can until you can no longer bear their moaning that everyone else has one except for them!! 

How I Made The Decision 

When my boys were younger (and I knew a little less), we had a family ‘understanding’ that when the boys started Year 5, they would receive a (very cheap and likely second hand) phone. Up until Year 5, my boys would go to after-school care. Somehow, turning 10 and entering Middle School meant after-school care wasn’t really that ‘cool’ anymore, so instead they required a phone so they could safely catch the train home by themselves. The fact that they could also use these devices to play games and talk to their friends was of course, only a secondary consideration for them!  

That was how we managed the phone situation but let me assure you, almost every other family we knew had a different approach. Some gifted their offspring the latest iPhones as soon as they were requested, others provided a phone but with no ‘credit’ so the devices could only be used to receive calls. Others chose to wait till Year 7 and beyond and made their kids pay for the phone plan out of their pocket money.  

Now, I’m a big fan of parents choosing what works best – no one knows a child quite like a parent does, right? But the problem is, deciding what’s right can be really overwhelming. So, I’ve put together a list of things to consider when making this all important decision. Once you’ve worked through these points, I am sure you’ll feel more confident to make a decision that works for both you and your child. 

How Responsible and Savvy Is Your Child? 

Having parented 4 very different boys, I am the first to confirm that every child grasps personal responsibility at different stages. Some kids just have a knack for losing things while others have the same lunchbox their entire school career! Some kids just get the consequence of spending money while others spend up big whilst gaming online, blissfully unaware of their bill.  

You child’s digital reputation should also be worth considering when making your decision. Some kids understand that their online behaviour forms a key part of their reputation while others will charge forth in a heated online exchange without thinking.  

I really believe there is a direct link between social smarts and a positive online experience. When a child can read a situation and instinctively know when to shut it down or withdraw, their online experience will be far more rewarding. If your child is slow to catch on to social cues, they may struggle with posting and communicating online.   

Will A Phone Really Help With Safety? 

When I was deliberating about giving my eldest son a phone, he really went hard with the safety argument – knowing it would appeal to my parental anxiety. So, I relented but he had to promise to answer when I called. And he did – usually!! But it’s worth pointing out that a device itself doesn’t guarantee safety. If your kids are travelling home from school, they still need to know how to cross the road, not to talk to strangers and to always lock the front door once home. A phone doesn’t teach this. But I personally did find it handy (and anxiety reducing) to be able to give them a quick call to give them a few reminders and ensure all was well. 

When my younger boys received their phones, tracking apps like Life 360 were available. I know, they are controversial but, personally I found these super helpful. Being able to see where they were after school and to ensure they were heading in the right direction on the train, brought me great comfort to me when I was beating away on my keyboard at work.  

Could A ‘Dumb Phone’ Or Parental Controls Help? 

If, after reading this, you’re thinking that your child really isn’t ready but still love the idea of being able to contact them, why not consider parental controls or a phone with limited features?  

Putting age-appropriate boundaries around what your child does on their device is what parental controls will do. If you decide that you don’t want them to download TikTok, play particular games or view certain categories of websites, then this maybe your answer. You can also choose to set limits on their daily screen time and block out times when their phone can’t be used. Check out McAfee’s SafeFamily parental controls for peace of mind. 

Or, instead, why not make a ‘dumb’ phone their only option? A basic dumb phone lacks the advanced functionality of most smartphones – think phones before the internet. This means you’ll be able to call and text them but will probably be more relaxed knowing they’re not researching the latest fads on TikTok!  

Some companies have designed dumb phones for kids that even have built in parental controls. Open Mobile has a SmartKids Phone with a built-in GPS tracker and SOS button and comes without a camera. It does have internet connectivity but parents can see which apps have been downloaded, restrict specific apps and nominate what days and times apps can be used. A perfect option for a tween or young teenager! 

Connection 

Now, before making your final decision, I think it’s essential to think about your child’s sense of connectedness. As adults, we all know that being part of a community and ‘belonging’ is critical to mental health and self-worth. And I would not be doing my job if I didn’t remind you of just how fabulous a phone can be for staying in touch with your people. Just take a moment to remember how essential devices were for survival during Covid lockdowns.  

So, over to you mums and dads. This is definitely one of the trickiest decisions you’ll make in your parenting journey but don’t forget that you know your child best. You’ve got this! 

The post When Does My Child Really Need A Phone? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Just when they need financial security the most, job seekers face another challenge—getting ripped off by job scams. 

Scammers will capitalize on any opportunity to fleece a victim, like the holidays with ecommerce scams and tax time with IRS scams. Now, with surging employment figures, scammers have turned to job scams that harvest money and personal information from job seekers.   

In some ways, the tactics bear resemblance to online dating and romance scammers who hide behind a phony profile and tell their victims a story they want to hear, namely that someone loves them. With job scams, they take on the persona of a recruiter and lure their victims with what seems like an outstanding job offer. Of course, there’s no job. It’s a scam. 

These attacks have gained a degree of sophistication that they once lacked. Years prior, scammers relied on spammy emails and texts to share their bogus job offers. Now, they’re using phony profiles on social media platforms to target victims. 

Social media platforms have several mechanisms in place to identity and delete the phony profiles that scammers use for these attacks. Of note, LinkedIn’s latest community report cited the removal of more than 21 million fake accounts in the first half of 2022: 

• Stopped at registration – 16.4 million accounts. 
• Restricted proactively before members reported – 5.4 million accounts. 
• Restricted after members reported – 190 thousand accounts. 

Likewise, Facebook took action on 1.5 billion fake accounts in Q3 of 2022 alone, with more than 99% of them acted on before users reported them. 

Still, some scammers make their way through. 

Job scams continue to rise. Here’s what to look out for. 

As Steve Grobman, our senior vice president and chief technology officer, was quoted in an article for CNET, the continued shift to remote work, along with remote hiring, has also made it easier for online job scams to flourish. And the figures bear that out. 

In 2021, the FTC called out $209 million in reported losses due to job scams. In just the first three quarters of 2022, reported job scam losses had already reached $250 million. While year-end figures have yet to be posted, the final tally for 2022 could end up well over $300 million, a 50% uptick. And the median loss per victim? Right around $2,000 each. 

While the promise of work or a job offer make these scams unique, the scammers behind them want the same old things—your money, along with your personal information so that they can use it to cause yet more harm. The moment any so-called job offer asks for any of those, a red flag should immediately go up. 

It’s possibly a scam if: 

They ask for your Social Security or tax ID number. 

In the hands of a scammer, your SSN or tax ID is the master key to your identity. With it, they can open up bank cards, lines of credit, apply for insurance benefits, collect benefits and tax returns, or even commit crimes, all in your name. Needless to say, scammers will ask for it, perhaps under the guise of background check or for payroll purposes. The only time you should provide your SSN or tax ID is when you know that you have accepted a legitimate job with a legitimate company, and through a secure document signing service, never via email, text, or over the phone. 

They want your banking information. 

Another trick scammers rely on is asking for bank account information so that they can wire payment to you. As with the SSN above, closely guard this information and treat it in exactly the same way. Don’t give it out unless you actually have a legitimate job with a legitimate company. 

They want you to pay before you get paid. 

Some scammers will take a different route. They’ll promise employment, but first you’ll need to pay them for training, onboarding, or equipment before you can start work. Legitimate companies won’t make these kinds of requests. 

Other signs of a job scam—more red flags to look for. 

Aside from the types of information they ask for, the way they ask for your information offers other clues that you might be mixed up in a scam. Look out for the following as well: 

1) The offer is big on promises but short on details. 

You can sniff out many online scams with the “too good to be true” test. Scammers often make big promises during the holidays with low-priced offers for hard-to-get holiday gifts and then simply don’t deliver. It’s the same with job scams. The high pay, the low hours, and even the offer of things like a laptop and other perks, these are signs that a job offer might be a scam. Moreover, when pressed for details about this seemingly fantastic job opportunity, scammers may balk. Or they may come back with incomplete or inconsistent replies because the job doesn’t exist at all. 

2) They communicate only through email or chat. 

Job scammers hide behind their screens. They use the anonymity of the internet to their advantage. Job scammers likewise create phony profiles on networking and social media websites, which means they won’t agree to a video chat or call, which are commonly used in legitimate recruiting today. If your job offer doesn’t involve some sort of face-to-face communication, that’s an indication it may be a scam. 

3) And the communications seem a little … off. 

Scammers now have an additional tool reel in their victims—AI chatbots like Chat GPT, which can generate email correspondence, chats, LinkedIn profiles, and other content in seconds so they can bilk victims on a huge scale. However, AI has its limits. Right now, it tends to use shorter sentences in a way that seems like it’s simply spitting out information. There’s little story or substance to the content it creates. That may be a sign of a scam. Likewise, even without AI, you may spot a recruiter using technical or job-related terms in an unusual ways, as if they’re unfamiliar with the work they’re hiring for. That’s another potential sign. 

4) Things move too quickly. 

Scammers love a quick conversion. Yet job seekers today know that interview processes are typically long and involved, often relying on several rounds of interviews and loops. If a job offer comes along without the usual rigor and the recruiter is asking for personal information practically right away, that’s another near-certain sign of a scam. 

5) You get a job offers on Facebook or other social media sites not associated with job searches. 

This is another red flag. Legitimate businesses stick to platforms associated with networking for business purposes, typically not networking for families, friends, and interests. Why do scammers use sites like Facebook anyway? They’re a gold mine of information. By trolling public profiles, they have access to years of posts and armloads of personal information on thousands of people, which they can use to target their attacks. This is another good reason to set your social media profiles on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and other friend-oriented sites to private so that scammers of all kinds, not just job scammers, can’t use your information against you. 

Further ways you can protect yourself from job scams. 

As a job hunter you know, getting the right job requires some research. You look up the company, dig into their history—the work they do, how long they’ve been at it, where their locations are, and maybe even read some reviews provided by current or former employees. When it comes to job offers that come out of the blue, it calls for taking that research a step further.  

After all, is that business really a business, or is it really a scam? 

In the U.S., you have several resources that can help you answer that question. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) offers a searchable listing of businesses in the U.S., along with a brief profile, a rating, and even a list of complaints (and company responses) waged against them. Spending some time here can quickly shed light on the legitimacy of a company.  

Also in the U.S., you can visit the website of your state’s Secretary of State and search for the business in question, where you can find when it was founded, if it’s still active, or if it exists at all. For businesses based in a state other than your own, you can visit that state’s Secretary of State website for information. For a state-by-state list of Secretaries of State, you can visit the Secretary of State Corporate Search page here. 

For a listing of businesses with international locations, organizations like S&P Global Ratings and the Dun and Bradstreet Corporation can provide background information, which may require signing up for an account. 

Lastly, protect yourself and your devices.  

Given the way rely so heavily on the internet to get things done and simply enjoy our day, comprehensive online protection software that looks out for your identity, privacy, and devices is a must. Specific to job scams, it can help you in several ways, these being just a few: 

• Scammers still use links to malicious sites to trick people into providing their personal information. Web protection, included in our plans, can steer you clear of those links.  
• Moreover, scammers gather your contact information and other details so they can target you through data broker sites, fueled by thousands of data points on billions of people. McAfee’s Personal Data Cleanup scans some of the riskiest data broker sites, shows you which ones are selling your personal info, and, depending on your plan, can help you remove it. 
• Scammers may use any of your personal info that’s already out there on the dark web. McAfee’s Identity Monitoring scans the dark web for your personal info, including email, government IDs, credit card and bank account info, and more. It helps keep your personal info safe, with early alerts if your data is found on the dark web, an average of 10 months ahead of similar services.​
   

You have what it takes to avoid job search scams. 

Job searches are loaded with emotion—excitement and hopefulness, sometimes urgency and frustration as well. Scammers will always lean into these emotions and hope to catch you off your guard. If there’s a common thread across all kinds of online scams, that’s it. Emotion. 

A combination of a cool head and some precautionary measures that protect you and your devices can make for a much safer job-hunting experience, and a safer, more private life online too. 

Editor’s Note: 

Job scams are a crime. If you think that you or someone you know has fallen victim to one, report it to your authorities and appropriate government agencies. In the case of identity theft or loss of personal information, our knowledge base article on identity theft offers suggestions for the specific steps you can take in specific countries, along with helpful links for local authorities that you can turn to for reporting and assistance. 

The post Job Scams—How to Tell if that Online Job Offer is Fake appeared first on McAfee Blog.

It all feels so harmless. Who isn’t even alittle curious which celebrity is their look-a-like or what ’80s song best matches their personality? While some of these fun little quizzes and facial recognition-type games that pop up on social media are advertiser-generated and harmless, others have been carefully designed to steal your data.

According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) consumers need to beware with the IQ tests, quizzes that require you to trade information. Depending on the goal of the scam, one click could result in a new slew of email or text spam, malicious data mining, or even a monthly charge on your phone bill.

Besides the spammy quizzes, scammers also use click bait, that are headlines designed to get your click and your data. Such headlines often promise juicy info on celebrities and may even legitimate human interest stories that claim, “and you won’t believe what happened next.” While some of those headlines are authored by reputable companies simply trying to sell products and compete for clicks, others are data traps that chip away at your privacy.

The best defense against click bait is knowledge. Similar to the plague of fake news circulating online, click bait is getting more sophisticated and deceptive in appearance, which means that users must be even more sophisticated in understanding how to sidestep these digital traps.

5 Tips to Help You Tame Your Clicks

1. Just say no, help others do the same. Scammers understand human digital behavior and design quizzes they know will get a lot of shares. “Fun” and “wow!” easily goes viral. Refuse to pass on the information and when you see it, call it out like blogger David Neilsen did (right). A scammers goal is access to your data and access to your social pages, which gives them access to your friend’s data. If you want to find out which Harry Potter character you are most like, just know you will pay with your privacy — so just practice saying no.
2. Vet your friends. Gone are the days of hundreds of thousands of “friends and followers” to affirm our social worth. With every unknown friend you let into your digital circle, you increase your chances of losing more privacy. Why take the risk? Also, take a closer look at who is sharing a contest, quiz, or game. A known friend may have been hacked. Go through their feed to see if there’s anything askew with the account.
3. Beware of click jacking. This malicious technique tricks a web user into clicking on something different from what the user perceives they are clicking on, which could result in revealing confidential information or a scammer taking control of their computer.
4. Be aware of ‘Like Farming’ scams. Quizzes can be part of a scam called “Like Farming.” In this scenario, scammers create a piece of legitimate content, then swap it out for something else less desirable once the post has gone viral.
5. Adjust your settings. Since these quizzes mainly show up on Facebook, start adjusting your settings there. You will be prompted from your Settings to select/deselect the level of permissions that exist. This is one easy way to stop the madness. Another way is to go to the actual post/quiz and click on the downward facing arrow to the top right of the post. Tell Facebook to block these types of ads or posts, or if you are sure it’s a scam, report the post.
6. Value your online time. Click bait is an epic waste of time. When a headline or quiz teases users to click without giving much information about will follow, those posts get a lot more clicks, which moves them up the Facebook food chain. Keep in mind click bait is a trap that A) tricks you B) wastes valuable time and C) edges out content from your friends and Facebook pages that you actually want to see.

Our digital landscape is peppered with fake news and click bait, which makes it difficult to build trust with individuals and brands who have legitimate messages and products to share. As you become savvy to the kinds of data scams, your discernment and ability to hold onto your clicks will become second nature. Continue to have fun, learn, connect, but guard your heart with every click. Be sure to keep yor devices protected while you do!

The post Are You Getting Caught by Click Bait? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Scammers now have new tools to lure people who are looking for love online, by reeling in potential victims with artificial intelligence (AI). Thanks to the aid of popular AI tools like ChatGPT, scammers can potentially generate anything from seemingly innocent intro chats to full-blown love letters in seconds, all ready to dupe their victims on demand. 

Tactics like these are typical of “catfishing” in dating and romance scams, where the scammer creates a phony online persona and uses it to lure their victim into a relationship for financial gain. Think of it as a bait-and-hook approach, where the promise of love is the bait, and theft is the hook. 

And as explained above, baiting that hook just got far easier with AI.  

Sound farfetched? After all, who would fall for such a thing? It turns out that a sophisticated AI chatbot can sound an awful lot like a real person seeking romance. In our latest “Modern Love” research report, we presented a little love letter to more than 5,000 people worldwide and asked them if it was written by a person or by AI: 

My dearest, 

The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew that my heart would forever be yours. Your beauty, both inside and out, is unmatched and your kind and loving spirit only adds to my admiration for you. 

You are my heart, my soul, my everything. I cannot imagine a life without you, and I will do everything in my power to make you happy. I love you now and forever. 

Forever yours … 

One-third of the people (33%) thought that a person wrote this letter, 31% said an AI wrote it, and 36% said they couldn’t tell one way or another.  

What did you think? If you said that a person wrote the letter, you got hoodwinked. An AI wrote it. 

Two out of three people will talk to strangers online 

The implications are concerning. Put plainly, scammers can turn on the charm practically at will with AI, generating high volumes of romance-laden content for potentially high volumes of victims. And as our research indicates, plenty of people are ready to soak it up. 

Worldwide, we found: 

• Two out of three people (66%) said that they had been contacted by a stranger through social media or SMS and then started to chat with them regularly. 
• Facebook and Facebook Messenger (39%) and Instagram and Instagram direct messages (33%) are the most mentioned social media platforms used by strangers to start chatting. 

Chatting with a stranger is one thing. Yet how often did it lead to a request for money or other personal information? More than half the time. 

• In chats with strangers, 55% of people said that the stranger asked them to transfer money. 
• In about 34% of those cases, this involved less than $500, but in 20% of those cases the amount asked for was more than $10,000. 
• Further, 57% of people surveyed worldwide said that they were asked to share personal information through a dating app or social media. 
• This most often included their phone number (30%), an intimate photo or video (20%), or their email address (18%). 
• It also included requests for their government or tax ID number (9%) or account passwords for social media, email, or banking (8%). 

How do you know you or someone else is caught up in an online dating or romance scam? 

Scammers love a good story, one that’s intriguing enough to be believable, such as holding a somewhat exotic job outside of the country. Common tales include drilling on an offshore oil rig, working as a doctor for an international relief organization, or typically some sort of job that prevents them from meeting up in person. 

Luckily, this is where many people start to catch on. In our research, people said they found out they were being catfished when: 

• The person was never able to meet in person or do a video call – 39% 
• They searched for the scammer’s photo online and found out that it was fake – 32% 
• The person asked for personally identifiable information – 29% 
• The person didn’t want to talk on the phone – 27% 
• There were too many typos or sentences didn’t make sense – 26% 

Of course, the true telltale sign of an online dating or romance scam is when the scammer asks for money. The scammer includes a little story with that request too, usually revolving around some sort of hardship. They may say they need to pay for travel or medical expenses, a visa or other travel documents, or even customs fees to retrieve an item that they say is stuck in the mail. There’s always some kind of twist or intriguing complication that seems just reasonable enough such that the victim falls for it. 

Scammers will often favor payment via wire transfers, gift cards, and reloadable debit cards, because they’re like cash in many regards—once you fork over that money, it’s as good as gone. These forms of payment offer few protections in the event of scam, theft, or loss, unlike a credit card charge that you can contest or cancel with the credit card company. Unsurprisingly, scammers have also added cryptocurrency to that list because it’s notoriously difficult to trace and recover.  

In all, a romance scammer will typically look for the easiest payment method that’s the most difficult to contest, reimburse, or trace back to the recipient. Requests for money, particularly in these forms, should raise a major red flag. 

How do you avoid getting tangled up in an online dating or romance scam? 

What makes online dating and romance scams so malicious, and so difficult to sniff out, is that scammers prey on people’s emotions. This is love we’re talking about, after all. People may not always think or act clearly to the extent that they may wave away their doubts—or even defend the scammer when friends or family confront them on the relationship.  

However, an honest look at yourself and the relationship you’re in provides some of the best guidance around when it comes to meeting new people online: 

• Talk to someone you trust about this new love interest. It can be easy to miss things that don’t add up. So, pay attention to friends and family if they are concerned. 
• Take the relationship slowly. Ask questions and look for inconsistent answers. 
• Try a reverse-image search of any profile pictures the person uses. If they’re associated with another name or with details that don’t match up, it’s a scam. 
• And never send money or gifts to someone you haven’t met in person—even if they send you money first. 

Scammers, although arguably heartless, are still human. They make mistakes. The stories they concoct are just that. Stories. They may jumble their details, get their times and dates all wrong, or simply get caught in an apparent lie. Also, keep in mind that some scammers may be working on several victims at once, which is yet another opportunity for them to get confused and slip up. 

In the cases where scammers may use AI tools to pad their conversations, you can look for several other signs. AI still isn’t always the smoothest operator when it comes to language. AI often uses short sentences and reuses the same words, and sometimes it generates a lot of content without saying much at all. What you’re reading may seem to lack a certain … substance.  

Prevent online dating and romance scams from happening to you 

Scammers are likely to use all kinds of openers. That text you got from an unknown number that says, “Hi, where are you? We’re still meeting for lunch, right?” or that out-of-the-blue friend request on social media are a couple examples. Yet before that, the scammer had to track down your number or profile some way or somehow. Chances are, all they needed to do was a little digging around online. 

Say “no” to strangers bearing friend requests

Be critical of the invitations you receive. Out-and-out strangers could be more than a romance scammer, they could be a fake account designed to gather information on users for purposes of cybercrime, or they can be an account designed to spread false information. There are plenty of them too. In fact, in Q3 of 2022 alone, Facebook took action on 1.5 billion fake accounts. Reject requests from strangers. 

Want fewer scam texts and messages? Clean up your personal data

How did that scammer get your phone number or contact information in the first place? It could have come from a data broker site. Data brokers are part of a global data economy estimated at $200 billion U.S. dollars a year fueled by thousands of data points on billions of people scraped from public records, social media, third-party sources, and sometimes other data broker sites as well. With info from data broker sites, scammers compile huge lists of potential victims for their spammy texts and calls. 

Our Personal Data Cleanup can help remove your info from those sites for you. Personal Data Cleanup scans some of the riskiest data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info. It also provides guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and can even manage the removal for you depending on your plan. ​It also monitors those sites, so if your info gets posted again, you can request its removal again. 

Protect yourself and your devices

Online protection software can protect you from clicking on malicious links that a scammer may send you online, while also steering you clear of other threats like viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks in general. It can look out for your personal information as well, protecting your privacy by monitoring the dark web for your email, SSN, bank accounts, credit cards, and other info that a scammer or identity thief may put to use. With identity theft a rather commonplace occurrence today, security software is really a must. 

Who else will pen a love letter with AI this Valentine’s Day? 

Worldwide, we found that 30% of men (and 26% of all adults) said they plan to use artificial intelligence tools to put their feelings into words. Yet, there’s a flipside. We also found that 49% of respondents said they’d be offended if they found out the note they received had been produced by a machine.  

So why are people turning to AI? The most popular reason given for using AI as a ghostwriter was that it would make the sender feel more confident (27%), while others cited lack of time (21%) or lack of inspiration (also 21%), while 10% said it would just be quicker and easier and that they didn’t think they’d get found out. 

It’s also worth noting that true romance seekers have called upon AI to kick off chats in dating apps, which might take the form of an ice-breaking joke or wistful comment. Likewise, AI-enabled apps have started cropping up in app stores, which can coach you through a conversation based on contextual cues like asking someone out or rescheduling a date. Some can even create AI-generated art on demand to share a feeling through an image.  

It may be better than opening a conversation with an otherwise dull “hey,” yet as our research shows, there are risks involved if people lean on it too heavily—and prove to be quite a different person when they start talking on their own. 

AI is only as good or bad as the way people use it 

It’s important to remember that an AI chatbot like ChatGPT is a tool. It’s not inherently good or bad. It’s all in the hands of the user and how they choose to apply it. And in the case of scammers, AI chatbots have the potential to do a lot of harm. 

However, you can protect yourself. In fact, you can still spot online dating and romance scams in much the same way as before. They still follow certain rules and share the same signs. If anything, the one thing that has changed is this: reading messages today calls for extra scrutiny. It will take a sharp eye to tell what’s real and what’s fake.  

As our research showed, online dating and romance scams begin and end with you. Thinking back to what we learned as children about “stranger danger” goes a long way here. Be suspicious and, better yet, don’t engage. Go about your way. And if you do find yourself chatting with someone who requests money or personal information, end it. Painful as the decision may be, it’s the right decision. No true friend or partner, one you’ve never seen or met, would rightfully ask that of you. 

Editor’s Note: 

Online dating and romance scams are a crime. If you think that you or someone you know has fallen victim to one, report it to your authorities and appropriate government agencies. In the case of identity theft or loss of personal information, our knowledge base article on identity theft offers suggestions for the specific steps you can take in specific countries, along with helpful links for local authorities that you can turn to for reporting and assistance. 

The post Could ChatGPT Cause Heartbreak with Online Dating Scams? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Swiping right is like a box of Valentine’s Day chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get. You could land with a ghost, a gem, or a fraudster who’s not interested in stealing your heart but your cryptocurrency. 

Romance scams have been breaking hearts and emptying bank accounts since the advent of online dating in the 1990s. In 2021 alone, the FTC received 56,000 reports of romance scams and losses totaling $547 million. Compared to just four years earlier, total losses increased by 500%.1 

Cryptocurrency romance scams are a relatively new evolution of the scheme. Here’s what you should know and signs that may indicate you’re communicating with a manipulative crypto thief. 

What Is a Cryptocurrency Romance Scam?

A cryptocurrency romance scam is an online scheme where a cybercriminal forges romantic relationships through online platforms to trick people into handing over crypto assets. Conversations may begin on social media platforms or dating apps. After a few days, weeks, or – if the criminal is patient – months of communicating, the scammer uses their manufactured romantic bond to guilt their target into sending cryptocurrency. The criminal will often tug on heartstrings with made-up sad stories to explain what they’ll use the money for. They may ask for a few hundred to thousands of dollars’ worth of crypto. Once they’ve received payment, they may continue the charade of a relationship to attempt to weasel more money, or they may “end the relationship” and disappear to try their luck with someone else. 

Artificial intelligence text generators like ChatGPT make juggling multiple love scams at once easier and quicker for scammers. Instead of using their brain to think up “heartfelt” proclamations of love, they can ask an AI program to do the work for them. And AI-written love letters are convincing! In McAfee’s Modern Love Report, 69% of global respondents were unable to tell if a love note was written by a human or a machine. 

In crypto romance plots specifically, the criminal will ask for payment in cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. In general, you should be skeptical of any person or organization that asks for payment in crypto. Cryptocurrency is famously untraceable, meaning that once it hits someone else’s crypto wallet, there’s no way to get it back or ascertain the real identity of the account holder. Unlike a bank account that a real person with a valid Social Security Number must open, crypto does not have such requirements. The anonymity is what makes crypto the preferred payment type of nefarious characters.  

In a 14-month span, cryptocurrency romance scams accounted for $185 million in crypto losses.2 And that figure only accounts for filed reports. It’s possible that some people are still in the swirls of a scam or are too embarrassed to report the crime. 

How to Identify a Crypto Scam

There are three tell-tale signs of an online crypto dating scam. If you encounter any of these scenarios, begin to ask more probing questions. If you’re unsatisfied with the answers or the person you’re communicating with becomes defensive, you may want to consider blocking this person on your device and removing them from your life.

1. A fast-moving relationship.

The getting-to-know-you phase of any new relationship is exciting and interesting. Even in this day and age of accelerated courtship and constant communication via texting, social media direct messages, and dating apps, this important phase takes time. If someone you’ve never met in person tells you they love you after just a few conversations, be wary of their compliments. Love-at-first-direct-message isn’t real. 

2. Refusal to meet in person or over video.

Refusing or constantly postponing in-person meetings is a major red flag. In 39% of catfishing incidents, turning down in-person meetups was the ultimate sign that alerted people to the catfish, according to the Modern Love Report. Catfish – or someone using fake photos and/or backstories to deceive others online – often make all kinds of excuses to avoid showing their face or even talk on the phone. Excuses range from illness, family or work obligations, to the burdensome cost of travel. When two people have a deep connection based on genuine love, they’ll make the necessary compromises to show their real face.

3. Fixation on crypto assets and the future.

Romance scammers may constantly lament their financial woes and say how they wished money wasn’t a problem. To gain sympathy, they may claim to have a sick family member or pet who needs expensive medical treatment. At this point, the scammer will hope that the target offers to send money, or the scammer may sheepishly request money outright. To keep targets from growing suspicious or resentful, the scammer is often overly thankful and promises to never ask for money again; however, they always do. Never share your crypto wallet private key with anyone, and immediately be on alert if someone you met online and have never met in person asks for payment in crypto.

Protect Your Assets, Identity, and Heart

Everyone who’s ever endured a breakup hates this saying for its maddening simplicity, but its message is true: There are other fish in the sea. Literally billions. Everyone deserves a partner who respects their time and needs. If the person on the other side of the screen is taking more than they’re giving, it’s time to say goodbye.

A partner who will never let you down is McAfee+ Ultimate. This all-in-one device, privacy, and identity protection service lets you live your best online life confidently. In case you ever fall victim to identity theft or you suspect your credit is compromised, you’re protected with credit lock, security freeze, and up to $1 million in identity theft coverage.

So, this Valentine’s Day, slow down and evaluate each new match for the robustness of their messages, not their “photo,” “job,” or “grand future plans.” Be careful in that harsh dating world and never settle for mediocre. The perfect person is out there somewhere!

1Federal Trade Commission, “Reports of romance scams hit record highs in 2021”

2Federal Trade Commission, “Reports show scammers cashing in on crypto craze”

The post 3 Signs You May Be Caught in a Cryptocurrency Romance Scam appeared first on McAfee Blog.

If you’re like most people, you like to stay connected whether you are traveling or just on the go. That’s why it can be tempting to connect to free, public Wi-Fi networks, but you should know that these networks could open you up to some serious risks.

Public Wi-Fi networks often lack a security measure called encryption, which scrambles the information sent from your computer or device to the router so strangers cannot read it. Without this security measure in place, the information you send over these networks can potentially be intercepted by cybercrooks.

This information could include your banking and social media passwords, as well as your identity information. A nosy cybercriminal could also potentially snoop on you by watching which websites you visit, and what you type into web forms.

In fact, it is so easy to steal your information over unsecured networks cybercrooks sometimes set up malicious Wi-Fi hotspots in high-traffic areas, like airports, with the intention of grabbing users’ information.

That’s why if you have to connect when you’re away, you should only use secure and well-advertised Wi-Fi networks. You can usually tell if they use encryption because they require a password to join.

If you have to do something sensitive online, like check your bank account balance or make a purchase, try to stick to webpages that start with “HTTPS” rather than just “HTTP”. The “S” stands for secure and indicates that the site uses encryption to protect your data. You can also look for a green lock icon at the beginning of the browser address, which indicates that the website connection is secure.

If you are on your mobile phone, you can skip the Wi-Fi network altogether and connect using the cellular network. It is somewhat more secure since it’s harder for cybercrooks to sniff out your individual data from others on the network.

If you travel a lot, consider investing in a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which is a piece of software that allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the Internet. Anyone potentially trying to snoop on you will only see that you are connected to the VPN, and not what you are doing.

Of course, the most important thing is to remember that using public Wi-Fi is always risky, and requires some extra steps to protect your data.

Here are some more tips to help keep you safe:

• Think twice before connecting to any public Wi-Fi network, especially if it does not require a password to join.
• Avoid using free, public computers. Cybercriminals sometimes place compromised computers in legitimate Wi-Fi hotspots with the intention of spreading malware or stealing your data.
• Try to save sensitive transactions, like banking and online shopping, for your secure home or work networks.
• If you do use a public network, stick to sites that begin with “HTTPS” so you know they are secure. The HTTPS Everywhere browser extension can direct you to encrypted pages when available. Also, look for the green lock icon in the browser’s address bar.
• When using your laptop, make sure to turn off “sharing” of your folders and devices so no one else on the network can access them. A quick web search can tell you how to do this on your operating system.
• Use comprehensive security software and keep it up-to-date. If your software includes a firewall, make sure to enable it.

The post Why You Need to Watch Out When Using Public Wi-Fi appeared first on McAfee Blog.

“Together for a better internet.” That’s the rallying cry of this year’s Safer Internet Day, and it’s one we’re happy to hear. Particularly from a parent’s perspective. 

Safer Internet Day celebrates its 20th year on February 7th and focuses on ways we can all protect, empower, and respect all children when they go online—and gives us an opportunity to reflect on what that really means. 

Consider that for some time now, children have found themselves born into an online world. As soon as they can pick up a toy, they can pick up a phone or tablet too. And they often do, given that they’re growing up in homes where one is practically always in reach. With that, their online life begins. 

Learning how to live life online is simply another part of growing up nowadays. And that’s where we as parents play a significant role. Just as in every other aspect of life, they look to us for guidance, encouragement, and new things to see and do online. Safely, too. 

Children look to their parents and families when it comes to staying safe online. 

Children have said as much. In our recent global report entitled “Life Behind the Screens of Parents, Tweens, and Teens,” we asked who is best suited to teach them about being safe online. Children said their parents are the clear winners. Nearly three-quarters of children pointed to parents, almost twice more than teachers at school (39%) and more than twice over for online resources (34%).  

However, while parents agreed with this, it appears they didn’t always follow through. For starters, parents reported using basic protection on their own computers at a relatively low rate. Even the simplest of security steps scored relatively low despite how relatively easy they are to take. That included using antivirus software (68%), protecting the computer with a password (58%), or sticking to reputable online stores when shopping (50%). These figures dropped yet lower when asked if they took the same precautions for their children on their computers. 

For example, only 57% of parents said they installed antivirus on their child’s computer and only 44% have their child password or passcode protect their computer, as illustrated by the drops in the chart below. 

This trend extends to smartphones as well. While 56% of parents said that they protect their smartphone with a password or passcode, only 42% said they do the same for their child’s smartphone—a 14% difference. Again, considering how easy it is to create a password or passcode for a phone, and how much of our online lives course through those devices, that figure would ideally come in at 100%. 

In all, many parents protect their children even less than they protect themselves.  

Children group up quickly online—quicker than you might think 

Everyone loves their smartphone. Children particularly so. While parents placed their smartphone as their top device at 59%, followed by their computer or laptop at 42%, tweens and teens put their smartphone at the top of the at a decisive 74%. Second was their gaming console at 68%. 

Unsurprisingly, that love for the smartphone pushes children’s internet usage quickly to an adult level at an early age, marking a sort of early mobile maturity where they are exposed to the broader internet full of apps, chats, entertainment, and social media—along with their benefits and risks nearly right away. 

Taken with the low level of security measures parents place on their children’s phones, we can see how children are going online with a device that’s largely unprotected—in part because their parents leave their smartphones largely unprotected as well. 

Staying safer online takes more than a secure device. 

Beyond devices, parents have other concerns about their children as they increasingly spend more time online, particularly as they get older. Some of the top ones include: 

• Cyberbullying, is it happening to my child or is my child the bully? 
• Smartphones, what’s the right age for my child to get their first one?  
• Social media, what’s that new platform they’re all using—and is it safe? 
• All those apps, which ones are right for my children—and which ones aren’t? 
• Screen time, how can I help my child strike the right balance? 

Increasingly, staying safe online involve more than protecting devices—it revolves around protecting the people who use them. Topics like the ones above are prime examples. They’re about people, not devices. Further, we have the broader issues of staying more private online and protecting your identity from hackers, scammers, and thieves—where once again, bad actors target people, not their devices.  

It’s a lot to keep on top of. 

And that can feel a bit overwhelming to a parent. Luckily, as with other aspects of parenting, you don’t have to think about all these topics all at once. They’ll crop up naturally over time, just as the umpteen other teaching moments do over the course of parenting. 

Ways we can make a safer internet for our children.  

It starts with asking a few questions. What might be on the horizon for our children as they go online over the next few weeks and months? How can you support them? And how can you prepare yourself for that support? Granted, those are some pretty broad questions. Yet we can help: 

• Our blog provides a wealth of information on topics that will surely come up, with plenty of articles aimed at parents who want to see their children have a healthy, happy time online.  
• Our McAfee Safety Series has several in-depth guides on topics like digital privacy, social media safety, identity protection, and shopping more safely online—all packed with straightforward steps you can take that can make your family safer than before. 

As for tools you can use to help keep your children safer online, we just released our McAfee+ Family Plans, online protection that’s personalized for the ones closest to you. Whether you want to protect your partner, children, parents, or a loved one practically anywhere, they offer tailored device, identity, and privacy protection for up to six people.  

For your children, that means you can protect them from viruses, sketchy websites, and inappropriate content—plus establish ground rules for screen time, all in a way that’s right for them. Each child also gets their own Protection Score, a reflection of just how safe they are online, which you can quickly review and then get guide you through steps that can make them safer still. In all, it’s a powerful tool for parents who care about their children’s safety online. 

“Safer Internet Day: Together for a better internet.”  

You have yet another powerful tool at your disposal: conversations. You’ll find that some of the best protection you provide stems from chats with your children.  

Sit down with them while they play an online game, ask what apps they like to use, or ask to look when a TikTok reel makes them laugh. These are all natural moments to get a glimpse into their digital life and simply talk about it—without lectures or preaching. The more you can make talking about life online feel like a normal thing, the more opportunities you’ll get to support them when they need it.  

As parents, we can look at our children now and wonder what the internet will bring to them in the next five, ten, or even twenty years from now. It’s exciting, perhaps a bit dizzying, yet it’s more reason to offer your guidance and encouragement, to learn about life online together. That will give them a foundation they can build on, so they can enjoy a fulfilling and safer life online. 

The post Safer Internet Day: Through a Parent’s Eyes appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Cybercriminals will always try to cash in on a good thing, and football is no exception. Online scammers are ramping up for the big game with all types of schemes designed to rip you off and steal your personal info—but you have several ways you can beat them at their game.  

Like shopping holidays, tax season, and even back-to-school time, scammers take advantage of annual events that get people searching for deals and information online. You can include big games and tournaments in that list too. 

Specific to this big game, you can count on several types of scams to rear their heads this time of year—ticket scams, merchandise scams, betting scams, and phony sweepstakes as well. They’re all in the mix, and they’re all avoidable. Here, we’ll break them down. 

Keep an eye out for ticket scams. 

As of two weeks out, tickets for the big game on the official ticketing website were going for $6,000 or so, and that was for the so-called “cheap seats.” Premium seats in the lower bowl 50-yard line, sold by verified resellers, were listed at $20,000 a pop or higher.  

While the game tickets are now 100% mobile, that hasn’t prevented scammers from trying to pass off phony tickets as the real deal. They’ll hawk those counterfeits in plenty of places online, sometimes in sites like your friendly neighborhood Craigslist.  

So if you’re in the market for tickets, there are certainly a few things to look out for: 

• First off, the safest bet is to purchase tickets through the official marketplaces of the NFL with a 100% ticket guarantee. 
• If someone is selling physical tickets, it’s a scam. As mentioned above, tickets are now 100% mobile. 
• If you see so-called deals for tickets that are going well below the current rate, you can practically bet that’s a scam as well. 
• Another sign of a scam, is someone is asking for payment by a payment app like Venmo or by wire transfer or even crypto. These payment methods work like cash, meaning that if you pay a scammer with them, your money is good as gone.  

Look out for online merch scams. 

If you plan on enjoying the game closer to home, you may be in the market for some merch—a hat, a jersey, a tee, or maybe some new mugs for entertaining when you host the game at your place. With all the hype around the game, out will come scammers who set up bogus online stores. They’ll advertise items for sale but won’t deliver—leaving you a few dollars lighter and the scammers with your payment information, which they can use on their own for identity fraud. 

You can shop safely with a few straightforward steps: 

Stick with known, legitimate retailers online for your merch. 

This is a great one to start with. Directly typing in the correct address for reputable online stores and retailers is a prime way to avoid scammers online. In the case of retailers that you don’t know much about, the U.S. Better Business Bureau (BBB) asks shoppers to do their research and make sure that retailer has a good reputation. The BBB makes that easier with a listing of retailers you can search simply by typing in their name. 

If you feel like doing extra sleuthing, look up the address of the website and see when it was launched. A visit to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) at ICANN.org gives you the option to search a web address and see when it was launched, along with other information about who registered it. While a recently launched site is not an indicator of a scam site alone, sites with limited track records may give you pause if you want to shop there—particularly if there’s a chance it was just propped up by a scammer.  

<h3>Look for the lock icon in your browser when you shop. 

Secure websites begin their address with “https,” not just “http.” That extra “s” in stands for “secure,” which means that it uses a secure protocol for transmitting sensitive info like passwords, credit card numbers, and the like over the internet. It often appears as a little padlock icon in the address bar of your browser, so double-check for that. If you don’t see that it’s secure, it’s best to avoid making purchases on that website. 

Use a secure payment method other than your debit card. 

Credit cards are a good way to go. One reason why is the Fair Credit Billing Act, which offers protection against fraudulent charges on credit cards by giving you the right to dispute charges over $50 for goods and services that were never delivered or otherwise billed incorrectly. Your credit card companies may have their own policies that improve upon the Fair Credit Billing Act as well. Debit cards don’t get the same protection under the Act.  

Get online protection. 

Comprehensive online protection software will defend against the latest virus, malware, spyware, and ransomware attacks plus further protect your privacy and identity. In addition to this, it can also provide strong password protection by generating and automatically storing complex passwords to keep your credentials safer from hackers and crooks who may try to force their way into your accounts. And, specific to the scams floating around this time of year, online protection can help prevent you from clicking links to known or suspected malicious sites. 

Placing a bet? Make it a safe(r) one. 

It’s hard to watch sports these days without odds and stat lines popping up onto the screen, along with a fair share of ads that promote online betting. If you’re thinking about making things interesting with some betting, keep a few things in mind: 

• As of January 2023, online betting is live and legal in some form across 32 states in the U.S., with “live and legal” meaning that sports betting is legally offered through retail and/or online sportsbooks. Where you can bet and how you can bet varies from state to state, and this interactive map can show you the details for yours. 
• Stick with the legal mobile betting apps and sites in your state, which you can also view via the interactive map linked above. Yet it shouldn’t come as a surprise that scam betting sites have cropped up. According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), they’ve received plenty of complaints. “You place a bet, and, at first, everything seems normal. But as soon as you try to cash out your winnings, you find you can’t withdraw a cent. Scammers will make up various excuses,” says the BBB. 
• Also, read the fine print on those promo offers that betting sites and apps advertise. Chances are you’ve seen the commercials with all manner of special sign-up bonuses. The BBB advises people to closely read the terms and conditions behind those offers. For one, “Gambling companies can restrict a user’s activity,” meaning that they can freeze accounts and the funds associated with them based on their terms and conditions. Also, the BBB cautions people about those promo offers that are often heavily advertised, “[L]ike any sales pitch, these can be deceptive. Be sure to read the fine print carefully.”  
• In addition to choosing a state-approved option, check out the organization’s BBB listing at BBB.org. Here you can get a snapshot of their BBB rating, complaints registered against them, and the organization’s response to those complaints if they have chosen to respond. Doing a little reading here can be enlightening. It can show you what complaints typically arise, and how the organization has historically addressed them. 

Watch out for phony sweepstakes and prizes too. 

As it is every year, you’ll see kinds of sweepstakes and giveaways leading up to the game, plenty of them legitimate. Yet as they do, scammers will try and blend in by rolling out their own bogus promotions. Their aim: to part you from your cash or even your personal information. 

A quick way to sniff out these scams is to take a close look at the promotion. For example, if it asks you to provide your bank information to send you your prize money, count on it being a scam. Likewise, if the promotion asks you to pay to claim a prize in some form or other, it’s also likely someone’s trying to scam you.  

In all, steer clear of promotions that ask something for something in return, particularly if it’s your money or personal information. 

Enjoy your big game. 

As it is of late, all kinds of scams will try to glom onto the big game this year. And some of the best advice for avoiding them is not to give in to the hype. Scammers prey on scarcity, a sense of urgency, and keyed-up emotions in general. Their hope is that these things may make you less critical and more likely to overlook things that would otherwise seem sketchy or too good to be true. Staying focused as you shop, place a wager, or otherwise look to round out your enjoyment of the big game is some of your absolute best defense against scammers right now, and any time. 

The post Super Scams – Beat the Online Scammers Who Want to Sack Your Big Game appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Knowing the whole family is protected online is a great feeling—that they’re safe from online scams, inappropriate content, and people stealing or collecting their personal data. But online protection looks a little different for everyone, because everyone goes online a little differently. 

With that, we’re introducing our McAfee+ Family plans, online protection that protects each family member with their own login, all based on their online risks and activities. 

Like so many things in family life, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t always do the trick. For example, a movie night with an award-winning film that’s “R” rating may be fine for mom and dad but not for the kids. And music? CoComelon works great for playdates, but not for dinner dates. Yet everyone in the family wants the same thing. To enjoy themselves. It just looks different from person to person.  

The same goes for online protection.  

We all need protection when we go online. Yet different family members may need different kinds of protection depending on their age, interests, and what they do online. So, staying safer calls for a personalized approach, one that’s tailored to the things they do online. 

McAfee+ Family plans offer identity, privacy, and device protection for up to six people so that you know that they’re protected from viruses, fraud, identity theft, and inappropriate content in a way that’s right for them. 

• Everyone gets their own identity monitoring and alerts, a VPN for more secure browsing, and unlimited device security. 
• Two adults get up to $1M each in identity theft coverage and up to $25k each for ransomware coverage.
• Two adults receive credit monitoring and alerts to help protect from identity theft and financial loss, and Personal Data Cleanup to remove their info from data broker sites. 
• The parents can set screen time limits so you can set some digital ground rules for your kids. 
• And everyone gets their own Protection Score that shows how safe they are and offers suggestions that can make them safer still.  

Why protecting the family calls for a truly personalized approach 

The larger idea that inspired our family plans is this—you should have absolute confidence that everyone you care about has the protection they need.  

That can get a little tricky when you think it through. With the family spending so much time online, it’s tough to know what everyone’s really doing, or if they’re safe while they’re doing it. Add to that all the ways companies track our activities online and the clever phishing tricks hackers use to steal our identity, there’s plenty to be concerned about. Simply put, it’s tough to know if everyone has the right protection in place and ways to take control of their privacy and identity.  

Our family plans make sure they have it, and it can cover any loved one anywhere. That includes family still living at home, but it could also include your aunt two time zones away, the kids away at school, or an elderly mom in the next town. If it’s someone you care about, you can protect them with this plan. Up to six people in total. 

What’s in it for you: a closer look at the benefits of our McAfee+ Family plans  

Protection that’s “just right” for each family member. 

• Personalize their protection based on each family member with their own logins and protections and is based on their risks and activities. 
• Everyone gets their own Protection Score that spots weak areas and helps shore them up. 
• Award-winning antivirus that protects against known and brand-new threats.  

Looks out for the family’s privacy and identity. 

• Identity monitoring alerts family members if their personal info like email addresses, phone numbers, and account numbers, is found on the dark web. 
• Personal Data Cleanup shows two adults which risky data broker sites are collecting and selling their personal info and helps them remove it. 
• Credit monitoring keeps an eye on changes to your credit score, report, and accounts with timely notifications and guidance so you can take action to tackle identity theft. 

Gets life back to normal if identity theft occurs. 

• $2M in identity theft coverage supports two adults (up to $1M per adult) if the unexpected happens to them, which covers legal fees, travel, and reimbursement of stolen funds. 
• Identity restoration from a licensed pro can help them repair their credit and identity. 
• Ransomware protection for two adults—up to $50,000 total (up to $25,000 each adult). 

Keeps your children safe online​. 

• Helps keep your children protected from inappropriate content online even when you can’t be right beside them. 
• Manage screen time and see their locations so you can help your kids stay safe.​ 
• Know that everyone in the family will get alerted if they come across dangerous or risky websites and links. 

Everyone gets the protection they need, in a way that works just for them 

That’s the idea. Everyone gets the right protection they need when they go online. Imagine ordering a pizza where each of the slices has someone’s favorite topping. That’s how our new family plan works. Your children get one set of protections made for them, your parents another, and you yet another. The result is the same, though. You’ll know everyone is safer. Because you set it up.  

I’m happy to share that our McAfee+ Family plans are available now, ready to protect the people who matter most—your people, the way they go online, wherever they are. 

The post McAfee+ Family Plans: The Right Protection for the Right People—Your People appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Written by James Schmidt 

Editor’s Note: We often speak of online scams in our blogs, ones that cost victims hundreds if not thousands of dollars. This account puts a face on one of those scams—along with the personal, financial, and emotional pain that they can leave in their wake. This is the story of “Meredith,” whose aunt “Leslie” fell victim to an emerging form on online elder fraud. Our thanks to James for bringing it forward and to “Meredith’s” family for sharing it, all so others can prevent such scams from happening to them. 

“Embarrassing. Simply embarrassing.” She shook her head. “It’s too raw. I can’t talk about it right now. I need time.”   

Her aunt had been scammed. To the tune of $100,000 dollars. My colleague—we both work in the security industry—felt a peculiar sense of loss. 

“I work in this industry. I thought I’d done everything right. I’ve passed on enough warnings to my family and friends to ensure they’d avoid the fate of the scammed.  Simply because I’m in this industry does not imply my circle is always aware of all the threats to them, even if I do my best to teach them.” 

“My mental state, recently, borders on shame; this feeling, you know? How could someone working in my industry have something like this happen to a family member?”  

I told her many people working in other industries cannot control what happens to people in their families even if people in that industry had knowledge that could have helped them or otherwise avoided a problem altogether. 

“I know, but this simply should never have happened! My aunt is one of the smartest, most conscientious people I know, and she fell for this. It’s crazy and I can’t wrap my head around it.” 

My colleague, let’s call her Meredith (not her real name as she’s a bit ashamed to know this happened to a family member), told me the beginnings. 

Let’s call her aunt Leslie. 

Her story unfolds, the overall picture a pastiche of millions of people in the United States today. Her aunt is retired, bored, lonely, and isolated. She feels adrift without something to occupy her time; she was looking for companionship, connections, someone (anyone) to talk to. Her feelings intensified during the pandemic. She morphed into perfect prey for scammers of what is now known as the “Pig Butchering Scam.” 

The term “Pig Butchering” has a visceral and raw feel to it, which falls right in line with how brutal this scam can be. It’s a long con game, where the scammer befriends the victim and encourages them to make small investments through the scammer, which get bigger and bigger over time. The scammer builds trust early with what appear to be small investment wins. None of it is legit. The money goes right into the scammer’s pocket, even as the scammer shows the victim phony financial statements and dashboards to show off the bogus returns. Confidence grows. The scammer wrings even larger sums out of the victim. And then disappears.  

It was a targeted attack that started innocuously enough with a “fake wrong number”. An SMS arrives. A text conversation starts. The scammer then apologizes but tells Leslie someone gave them the number to initiate the text. 

The scammer then uses emotional and psychological techniques to keep Leslie hooked.  “How are you, are you having a nice day?” Leslie, being bored and interested, engages willingly.     

The scammer asks to talk directly, not via text: and a phone conversation ensues.  The scammer proceeds to describe—in very soothing detail—what they are doing, helping people, like Leslie, invest their “hard-earned money” into something that will make them more money, to help them out in retirement. 

Of course, it is too good to be true.  

“The craziest part of all of this is my aunt refuses—to this day—to believe she’s been scammed!” 

She still thinks this scammer is a “friend” even though the entire family is up in arms over this, all of whom beg her aunt to “open her eyes.” 

“My aunt still thinks she’d going to see that money again, or even make some money, which is crazy. The scammers are so good at emotional intelligence; really leveraging heartstrings and psychological makeup of the forlorn in society. My aunt finally agreed to stop sending more money to the scammers, but only after the entire family threatened to cut her off from the rest of the family. It took a lot to get her to stop trusting the scammers.” 

Meredith feels this is doubly sad as the aunt in question is not someone they’d ever imagine would in this predicament. She was always the upright one, always the diligent and hardworking and the best with money. She is smart and savvy and we could never imagine her to be taken by these people and taken so easily. It boggles the mind.” 

She did start to change in the last few years. And the pandemic created a weird situation. Retirement, loneliness from loss of a partner, and the added burden of the pandemic created a perfect storm for her to open herself up to someone willingly, simply for the sake of connection. 

“No one deserves this. It has rocked my family to the core. It is not only about the money, but we’ve found family bonds stretched. She believes these random people, these scammers, more than she believes her own family. Have we been neglectful of our aunt? Does she no longer put her faith in people she knows, rather gives money to complete strangers?” 

Being a security professional does not provide magical protection. We are more aware of scams and scammers, and how they work, and what to look for, and we try to do all we can to keep our family aware of scams out there in the big wide world, but we are human. We fall short. 

Diligence is action. Awareness is action. Education is action. 

We need to be better, all of us, at socializing risky things. We need to consistently educate our family and friends to protect themselves, not only via security software (which everyone should have as default) but by providing tips and tricks and warnings for things we all need to be on the lookout. This is not a one-time thing. The cliché holds true: “If you see something say something.” Repetition helps.  

In today’s world, the need for protecting people’s security, identity, and privacy is critical to keeping them safe. Scammers long stopped focusing on attacking only your computer. Now focus more than ever on YOU: your identity, your privacy, your trust. If they get you there, they soon get your money. 

As for contributing factors to scammers success with their victims, such as loneliness, isolation, and boredom, they all have remedies.  Make connections with your loved ones, especially those easily tagged as vulnerable, those you feel might be at risk. Reach out. It may be hard sometimes due to distance and other factors but make it a point to connect. There is a reason these scammers are succeeding. They are stepping into roles of companions to people who are desperate for connection.   

Most people are greatly saddened at seeing other people being “taken.” Let’s work together to help stop the scammers. 

Look out for each other, and get your people protected! 

Editor’s Closing Note:  

If you or someone you know suspects elder fraud, the following resources can help: 

• In the U.S., the National Elder Fraud Hotline and the Eldercare Locator run by the U.S. Administration on Aging. 
• In the U.K., ActionFraud, run by the National Fraud and Cybercrime Reporting Centre. 
• In Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre maintained by the Canadian government. 
• In Australia, Scamwatch, maintained by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. 

For further reading on scams and scam prevention, check out the guides in our McAfee Safety Series, which provide in-depth advice on protecting your identity and privacy—and your family from scams. They’re ready to download and share. 

The post A Scam in the Family—How a Close Relative Lost $100,000 to an Elder Scam appeared first on McAfee Blog.

All your online activity creates a trail of data. And that data tells a story. The story of you. 

The websites, apps, and services you use throughout the day all collect data. They may collect data about your behaviors, interests, and purchases—along with what you’re doing, for how long, and where, largely without your knowledge. They may also collect personal information, information you provide, such as health records, your Social Security Number, banking info, your driver’s license number, and more. This can include further health data, such as the kind that gets tracked from a smart watch or wearable device. 

“So what?” 

I’ve heard plenty of people say exactly that about data collection. And plenty of others simply resign themselves to the reality of data collection. “What’s out there is already out there.” They feel like there’s not much they can do about it. If anything at all. And does it really matter? 

It absolutely matters. 

That is, it matters if you hate spam calls and texts. If you’re worried about identity theft. If you’re worried that practically anyone can purchase a detailed picture of your personal information from an online data broker and use it as they like. 

Indeed, your data tells the story of you. And plenty of others are interested in your story. Businesses and advertisers for one, so they can market to the most targeted of your needs and interests. Yet also hackers, scammers, spammers, and thieves—and in extreme cases, stalkers as well. 

While it’s true that you cannot control how each byte of data about you and your family is shared and processed, you’re not helpless! In many cases, you can control how you share your data by taking a few steps. Your data is precious, and you deserve to be selective about who you share it with. 

That’s the reason you’ve seen McAfee roll out so many protections for your privacy and identity, with several more to come. While there are so many tools for data collection today, so are the tools for you to take control. 

Looking at our own McAfee+ online protection plans, they offer you identity theft and fraud protections such as Personal Data Cleanup, identity monitoring, along with credit monitoring, a VPN that can help keep your online activity remain more private, $1M in identity theft coverage and support from an identity restoration specialist … the list goes on. These are tools everyone can benefit from in the face of the current threats out there.  

The evolution of McAfee+ reflects the nature of online threats today. Increasingly, the target is you—your privacy, your identity, and all the things that they unlock.  

Three things you can do right now that help make you more private online 

1) Use a complete security platform that includes a VPN, password manager, and web protection 

Another simple yet powerful step is to protect your devices with comprehensive online protection software. This will help defend you against the latest virus, malware, spyware, and ransomware attacks plus further shield your privacy and minimize web tracking (think advertisers) with a VPN. In addition to this, it will also create and store strong, unique passwords, plus offer web protection that can help steer you clear of sketchy websites that may try to steal your data. 

2) Review your privacy settings for the devices, platforms, and apps you use 

Start with the devices and apps you use most. Different devices and apps will have their own privacy settings, so give them a look and see what your options are. You may be surprised to find how you can limit which information advertisers can use to serve up ads to you. You may find that some apps have GPS tracking turned on, even though they don’t need it to function. All of this adds up to data that companies may collect, share, or resell—depending on their privacy policy. Again, start with the devices and apps you use most then expand from there. It’s also a good opportunity to delete apps you don’t use anymore—along with the data associated with them. 

3) Clean up the personal data posted about you online  

One major privacy leak comes at the hands of online data brokers, companies that collect and resell volumes of exacting personal information about millions of people. In fact, they make up a multi-billion-dollar industry that spans worldwide. Additionally, there are so-called “White Pages” and “people finder” sites that post information like names, addresses, and other public records that anyone can access. With all this information collected in a central location that’s easily searched and accessed, these sites can be an ideal resource for hackers, spammers, and thieves. McAfee’s Personal Data Cleanup can help you take control. It scans high-risk data broker sites and lets you know which ones are selling your data, and depending on your McAfee+ plan, it can remove it for you too. 

Yes, you can take control of your privacy 

Yet you can take even more control of your privacy. As part of our McAfee Safety Series, we have an entire guide dedicated to the topic of online privacy, the McAfee Digital Privacy Guide. It shows you ways that you can take control of your digital privacy, insight into what information you may be creating, and how you may be passing it along—whether you know it or not. 

In all, your privacy is your own. We believe that what you share and don’t share, who you share it with and who you don’t, and for what reason … should be your decision.  

It’s your story. Take control. And we’re here to help. 

The post Your Data—It’s the Story of You appeared first on McAfee Blog.

ChatGPT: Everyone’s favorite chatbot/writer’s-block buster/ridiculous short story creator is skyrocketing in fame. 1 In fact, the AI-generated content “masterpieces” (by AI standards) are impressing technologists the world over. While the tech still has a few kinks that need ironing, ChatGPT is almost capable of rivaling human, professional writers.  

However, as with most good things, bad actors are using technology for their own gains. Cybercriminals are exploring the various uses of the AI chatbot to trick people into giving up their privacy and money. Here are a few of the latest unsavory uses of AI text generators and how you can protect yourself—and your devices—from harm. 

Malicious Applications of ChatGPT 

Besides students and time-strapped employees using ChatGPT to finish writing assignments for them, scammers and cybercriminals are using the program for their own dishonest assignments. Here are a few of the nefarious AI text generator uses: 

1. Malware. Malware often has a very short lifecycle: a cybercriminal will create it, infect a few devices, and then operating systems will push an update that protects devices from that particular malware. Additionally, tech sites alert their readers to emerging malware threats. Once the general public and cybersecurity experts are made aware of a threat, the threat’s potency is quickly nullified. Chat GPT, however, is proficient in writing malicious code. Specifically, the AI could be used to write polymorphic malware, which is a type of program that constantly evolves, making it difficult to detect and defend against.2 Plus, criminals can use ChatGPT to write mountains of malicious code. While a human would have to take a break to eat, sleep, and walk around the block, AI doesn’t require breaks. Someone could turn their malware operation into a 24-hour digital crime machine. 
2. Fake dating profiles. Catfish, or people who create fake online personas to lure others into relationships, are beginning to use AI to supplement their romance scams. Like malware creators who are using AI to scale up their production, romance scammers can now use AI to lighten their workload and attempt to keep up many dating profiles at once. For scammers who need inspiration, ChatGPT is capable of altering the tone of its messages. For example, a scammer can tell ChatGPT to write a love letter or to dial up the charm. This could result in earnest-sounding professions of love that could convince someone to relinquish their personally identifiable information (PII) or send money. 
3. Phishing. Phishers are using AI to up their phishing game. Phishers, who are often known for their poor grammar and spelling, are improving the quality of their messages with AI, which rarely makes editorial mistakes. ChatGPT also understands tone commands, so phishers can up the urgency of their messages that demand immediate payment or responses with passwords or PII. 

How to Avoid AI Text Generator Scams 

The best way to avoid being fooled by AI-generated text is by being on high alert and scrutinizing any texts, emails, or direct messages you receive from strangers. There are a few tell-tale signs of an AI-written message. For example, AI often uses short sentences and reuses the same words. Additionally, AI may create content that says a lot without saying much at all. Because AI can’t form opinions, their messages may sound substance-less. In the case of romance scams, if the person you’re communicating with refuses to meet in person or chat over video, consider cutting ties.  

To improve your peace of mind, McAfee+ Ultimate allows you to live your best and most confident life online. In case you ever do fall victim to an identity theft scam or your device downloads malware, McAfee will help you resolve and recover from the incident. In addition, McAfee’s proactive protection services – such as three-bureau credit monitoring, unlimited antivirus, and web protection – can help you avoid the headache altogether!  

1Poc Network, “I asked AI (ChatGPT) to write me a rather off short story and the result was amazing” 

2CyberArk, “Chatting Our Way Into Creating a Polymorphic Malware” 

The post ChatGPT: A Scammer’s Newest Tool appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Authored by Fernando Ruiz

The popularity of AI-based mobile applications that can create artistic images based on pictures, such as the “Magic Avatars” from Lensa, and the OpenAI service DALL-E 2 that generates them from text, have increased the mainstream interest of these tools. Users should be aware of those seeking to take advantage to distribute Potential Unwanted Programs (PUPs) or malware, such as through deceptive applications that promise the same or similar advanced features but are just basic image editors or otherwise repackaged apps that can drain your data plan and battery life with Clicker and HiddenAds behaviors, subscribe you to expensive services that provide little or no value over alternatives  (Fleeceware), or even steal your social media account credentials (FaceStealer).

Dozens of apps surface daily claiming to offer AI image creation. Some of them might be legitimate or based on open-source projects such as Stable Diffusion, but in the search for a free application that produces quality results, users might try new apps that could compromise their privacy, user experience, wallet and/or security.

The McAfee Mobile Research Team recently discovered a series of repackaged image editors on the Google Play app store which presented concerning behaviors.  McAfee Mobile Security products help protect against such apps, including those classified as Android/FakeApp, Android/FaceStealer, Android/PUP.Repacked and Android/PUP.GenericAdware.

McAfee, a member of the App Defense Alliance focused on protecting users by preventing threats from reaching their devices and improving app quality across the ecosystem, reported the discovered apps to Google, which took prompt action and the apps are no longer available on Google Play.

We now discuss various types of privacy and/or security risks associated with the types of apps recently removed from the app store.

FaceStealer

“Pista – Cartoon Photo Effect” and “NewProfilePicture” are examples of apps that offered compelling visual results, however, each was based on the same image editor with basic filters and trojanized with Android/FaceStealer, which is a well-known malware capable of compromising a victim’s Facebook or Instagram account. The apps could capture user credentials during a Facebook login by embedding a javascript function loaded from a remote server (to evade detection) into a flutter webview activity that displays the Facebook login screen.